Pall
by Manic Penguin
Summary: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux. HarmMeg MacOther
1. Chapter One

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us>  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for lanugage to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU, and very messed up, so stay with me here._

_-Harm has had his eyes fixed but he's not returning to flying._

_-Little AJ is about three months old (I'm assuming he was born in May sometime, and, for the purposes of this story, please just go along with that)._

_-Chegwidden and Harriet (and Harm, obviously)are Annapolis graduates, Mac and Bud are OCS grads. It's never really been said where Chegwidden, Harriet, and Bud went, so I made an executive decision._

_-Mic is on loan from RAN to the JAG office and is still annoying and hitting on Mac at every turn. Beyond the fact that I loathe Mic, I can't get past the idea of having two characters named Mic and Mac get together. It's like whenmy friend Yin Lee married James Yang. Creepy._

_DEDICATION: to **jaka** who encouraged me to keep going with my Harm/Meg ship stories._

_DISCLAIMER: If you have to ask..._

_NOTE 1: The first chapter of this fic ended up being over fifty pages, so I've split it up into two chapters._

_NOTE 2: I swear I don't have anything against Harriet or Bud. Honestly._

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**0700 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**MONDAY, JULY 17**

There was a pall over the entire JAG office, the almost pain and grief that everyone who had ever met Bud Roberts was palpable. Even though the doctors had high hopes for his recovery, one thing was certain. He would not be coming back to JAG.

The morning staff meeting was unusually quiet, even before the arrival of Admiral Chegwidden. Bud's seat was empty. Harm was in his usual seat next to Mac near the head of the table. Mic Brumby, a RAN lawyer who was in Washington for an exchange program, though it seemed that the real reason he was there was to be the thorn in Harm's side, was sitting on the other side of Mac and he was trying to draw her attention away from the spot on the wall she had been staring at for the past ten minutes. Harm felt it was a good sign that the chipped paint won out over the Aussie's quote-unquote _charms_.

The door opened and everyone stood at attention when the Admiral walked in. He muttered a quick 'as you were' as he sat down at the head of the table, a stack of files dropping onto the dark, polished oak tabletop.

"Before we get started I want to pass along a message from Harriet Simms," Chegwidden said. Everyone sat up a little straighter, hoping that they finally had good news. "Lieutenant Commander Roberts came out of surgery late last night and, as of 0600 this morning, is in stable condition, though he has yet to wake up. Only immediate family will be allowed to see him for the first forty-eight hours, and after that only one person at a time for a few minutes every three hours."

"How are Harriet and little AJ doing, sir?" Mac asked. She had tried calling her friend all night but Harriet had been at the hospital so her cell phone was off. She hadn't tried calling the house because she knew that little AJ would wake up and she didn't want to disturb the infant's peaceful slumber.

"As well as can be expected," Chegwidden said. "I honestly don't know whether it's fortunate that little AJ doesn't know what's going on or not."

"The only fortunate thing about any of this is that Bud is still alive," Harm said, idly rubbing his fingers over his Naval Academy ring, a nervous habit dating back to childhood when he wore his father's Naval Academy ring on his thumb with some yarn wrapped around it to make it stay put.

As usual Harm got to the heart of the matter and reminded them all of the big picture.

There was no argument on Harm's statement.

Even though he hated to do it, the Admiral brought the meeting to order.

"Since Lieutenant Commander Roberts will not be returning to JAG even after his recovery his cases need to be reassigned," Chegwidden said. "Mac, I want you to take over the Selo _Article 32_ and the Arehan appeal. Brumby, I want you to continue on the Swartzer investigation. Harm, you can handle the paperwork on the Camplain Court Marshall."

"Aye, aye, sir," the three lawyers said, all wondering why Harm had been given nothing more than paperwork when he was the senior lawyer and the best litigator at JAG.

"Dismissed," Chegwidden said. "Commander Rabb, stay a moment," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Mac shot Harm a _what did you do now?_ look as she followed Brumby out of the room. Harm was asking himself the same question. He hadn't been in the field in a week and he hadn't pulled any stunts in the courtroom for almost a month; he couldn't have possibly pissed the Admiral off.

"I realize this is not what you need right now, Commander," the Admiral started, "but I have to go to San Diego for a few weeks and I need you to be acting JAG. I'll be leaving after work today so you need to make sure you are on time tomorrow morning."

Harm nodded, not sure what to say.

"I've left a list of things for you to take care of with Petty Officer Coates. Tiner is supposed to be in tomorrow morning but if Harriet needs him to watch little AJ just get him to call Coates in. Bud's replacement is already on the way; she should be ready to start work by Wednesday," Chegwidden continued. "I want you to make sure things run smoothly here while I'm gone."

"Consider it done, sir," Harm said.

"Good. I also want you to keep my informed on Commander Roberts' condition," Chegwidden said.

"Yes sir," Harm nodded.

"Dismissed," Chegwidden said, remaining seated at the conference room table. Harm stood at attention before leaving the room, closing the door on his way out.

He had barely made it out of the conference room when Mac fell in step beside him. "What did you do to piss him off now?" she asked.

"Nothing," Harm said honestly as he opened the door to his office. "The Admiral has to go to San Diego for a while and he's made me acting JAG."

"Congratulations," Mac said with a soft smile.

"Thank you," Harm said, sinking down into his chair. It felt good to be home. "Um… I was going to go over and see little AJ tonight… wanna come with?"

"Definitely," Mac said. She checked her internal clock and cringed. "I've gotta go. Court in eight minutes. Are we still on for lunch?" she asked. Harm nodded and Mac flashed him a brilliant smile before retreating from his office and heading toward the elevators.

The JAG office was eerily quiet. Even the phones weren't ringing. It was as if the entire world was giving the office a break to regain their footing before burying them under the usual crap.

As Harm looked out through the window that made up the front wall of his office he couldn't help but think that this was just the calm before the storm.

* * *

**ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY**

**1300 (EST)**

**ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND**

**SATURDAY, JULY 15**

It was little AJ's first trip to the Naval Academy, and, though he would probably never remember the outing, it was a big thing for both his parents and his godfather, Harmon Rabb, Jr. His godmother, Sarah MacKenzie, had been whispering stories about the joys of going to Officer's Candidacy School all morning, something that Harm maintained was a plot to seduce the infant away from Annapolis.

As alumni from Annapolis, Harriet and Harm had been invited to the graduation ceremony. Bud and Mac were both OCS graduates, but had agreed to come only because Harriet planned on bringing little AJ and they wanted to be there for his first official navy outing.

AJ was silent through the ceremony, almost as if he knew that it wouldn't be wise to throw a tantrum when everyone else wasn't making a sound, but, once the ceremony part was over and everyone started milling around, looking for old friends or family members, AJ let his feelings on his dirty diaper be known to one and all.

"I'll be back," Harriet said apologetically, taking the diaper bag from Bud and heading off to the nearest washroom.

Harm watched as Harriet and a thoroughly distressed AJ made their way through the crowd and, once they were out of sight, he turned to Mac. "Nervous, Marine?" he teased.

"Why would I be nervous?" Mac asked, standing up a little straighter.

"Because you're surrounded by all things Navy," Harm said with a shit-eating grin.

"There are Marines here," Mac shot back. "Besides, I have no reason to be afraid of the Navy."

Harm laughed. "Okay, truce," he said, holding up his hands to show he wasn't armed with any more comments.

"Truce," Mac nodded firmly. "Okay, Squid, it's time for my tour. If I don't hear some stories directly from the horses mouth about your time here I'll just have to call up Jack Keeter and see what he is willing to share."

Cringing visibly at the thought of what Keeter would be willing to share with Mac, Harm put his hand on the small of her back and led her away from the throngs of people. Bud had wandered off to find some old friends of his from his days on the Seahawk.

They were about half way through the grounds when the first shot was fired.

Harm pushed Mac behind a building, his hand blindly finding hers even as they scanned the area to see if they could spot a shooter.

"What do you think?" Harm asked. He knew weapons well enough, but Mac was better trained in automatic weapons.

"At least three shooters," Mac said, listening hard and trying to spot the perpetrators. It was an impossible task, though, as the shots had sent half the people on campus into a panic and the other half into action, which, without weapons, basically meant trying to keep everyone else calm and out of the line of fire. "All sporting AK-47's. I can't see anyone, though. This isn't just a final test, is it?" she asked hopefully.

"Unless they've changed the grad ceremony since I left, no," Harm said as he looked around, trying to remember the layout of the campus, where the training ground was, where all the nooks and crannies were. "There's one," he said after a minute, pointing to a man, all dressed in green cammies, crouched down behind a row of bushes.

Mac searched the grounds as well, and followed the flying bullets back to the muzzle flashes. "There's another one," Mac said, pointing to a large oak tree where another gunman was shooting down on the crowd from above. Her dark brown eyes scanned the rest of the quad until she found the third shooter inside a shed with the business end of a weapon she herself had used on more than one occasion in the past. "There have to be weapons on campus," Mac said.

"The armoury, though here," Harm said, pointing down the breezeway and to the left. "We can get there without being seen," he added even as they started running down the covered walkway together, their hands still linked, acting as a tether to reality for each other.

Halfway down the hall Mac's left heel broke off. She let go of Harm's hand as she stopped and pulled the uniform shoes off, tossing them to the side of the hallway before racing to catch up with Harm who, after faltering for a moment, had kept running.

They had to get to the armoury.

Harm just prayed that whoever was attacking the campus hadn't already hit it.

* * *

**ROBERTS RESIDENCE **

**1849 (EST)**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**MONDAY, JULY 17**

Harm and Mac had both gone home to change into civilian clothing before going to visit their godson. Harm called the house while he waited for Mac to come over, wanting to make sure that it was still alright that they come visit. Harriet would still be at the hospital, he knew, and he wanted to see her, as well, but his first priority was little AJ.

Even though he hated to admit it, Harm felt that little AJ was probably the closest thing he would ever get to having a son of his own, and, since he had the unfortunate experience of losing his father at a young age, he felt he needed to be there for AJ to help him understand why he was incredibly lucky.

Of course, since AJ was only a few months old, his biggest problem was that he was getting his mommy-milk from a bottle instead of straight from the source because babies weren't exactly welcome in the ICU where Bud was still in what the doctors assured Harriet was not a coma, though was a coma-like state.

Petty Officer Jason Tiner answered the door, looking like he was dead on his feet. "Commander, Colonel," Tiner said, standing at attention even though he looked like he barely had the energy to do that.

"At ease, Tiner," Harm said, fighting the urge to laugh.

"How long have you been here?" Mac asked as they entered the townhouse and hung up their coats.

"Since Lieutenant Simms left for the hospital," Tiner said.

"I'm calling you a cab and you're going home to get some sleep," Harm said. Tiner opened his mouth to protest but Harm beat him to it. "I'll make it an order if I have to, Tiner. Mac and I can take care of little AJ. You're dead on your feet."

"You're sure you don't mind, sir, ma'am?" Tiner asked as Harm picked up the phone from the table in the hall and started dialling the number for a cab company.

"We came over to spend time with our godson," Mac said in a reassuring tone. "Just go get some sleep. And I don't want to see you at work tomorrow, either. Coates can cover for you."

"I don't want to make the Admiral angry…" Tiner said hesitantly.

"The Admiral is leaving for San Diego right about now," Harm said while waiting on hold. "I'm acting JAG and I don't see there being any problems with you taking a day to rest up. Just make sure you ask Jen _nicely_," he said with a smirk. It was no secret that Jason Tiner and Jennifer Coates were what some people called 'the next Harriet and Bud' of the JAG office.

Twenty minutes later Tiner was on his way home and Harm and Mac were giving AJ his bath, a nightly ritual brought on by necessity because AJ invariably found some way to get some sticky, slimy, gooey, or generally disgusting substance all over his body. Harm knew it was just what babies did, and only complained a little when some of the aforementioned sticky-slimy-gooey-disgusting substance hit the ceiling and he was relegated to kitchen-cleanup because there was no way Mac would be able to reach that high even with a stepladder.

After bath time came the task of getting the wiggle worm into his terry-cloth PJ's. Little AJ was happier without clothing, especially pyjamas because that meant bedtime, but after struggling for a few minutes he gave himself over to exhaustion and fell asleep as Mac tucked his chubby little arms into the sleeves before buttoning up the front of the pale green sleeper.

"You're good at that," Harm said as Mac got AJ settled in his crib. "You're gonna be a great mother."

"If it ever happens," Mac shrugged.

Neither one brought up the offer that Harm had instigated on the day of AJ's birth.

Their eyes met in the room where the only light came from a cartoon-shaped nightlight beside the crib, and a flash of desire hit them both. Harm stepped out of the doorway, moving toward Mac as she started crossing the room toward Harm.

The sound of the front door opening downstairs ruined the moment, though, in the same way so many other moments between them had been ruined before.

* * *

_I know it doesn't seem like it now, but this is **not** going to be a Harm/Mac story._

_What do you think so far?_

_M_


	2. Chapter Two

___TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us>  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for lanugage to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU, and very messed up, so stay with me here._

_-Harm has had his eyes fixed but he's not returning to flying._

_-Little AJ is about three months old (I'm assuming he was born in May sometime, and, for the purposes of this story, please just go along with that)._

_-Chegwidden and Harriet (and Harm, obviously)are Annapolis graduates, Mac and Bud are OCS grads. It's never really been said where Chegwidden, Harriet, and Bud went, so I made an executive decision._

_-Mic is on loan from RAN to the JAG office and is still annoying and hitting on Mac at every turn. Beyond the fact that I loathe Mic, I can't get past the idea of having two characters named Mic and Mac get together. It's like whenmy friend Yin Lee married James Yang. Creepy._

DEDICATION: To Tracy, for bringing the character of Meg Austin to life, and to all the Harm/Meg shippers out there.

_DISCLAIMER: If you have to ask..._

_NOTE 1: The first chapter of this fic ended up being over fifty pages, so I've split it up into two chapters._

_NOTE 2: I swear I don't have anything against Harriet or Bud. Honestly._

_NOTE 3: The idea of 'soul connections' is one that I personally subscribe to, and was the basis for this entire fic._

* * *

**ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY**

**1351 (EST)**

**ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND**

**SATURDAY, JULY 15**

"Which one?" Mac asked as they came up to a point where the breezeway met up with two buildings, neither bearing any signage.

"Left," Harm said, pointing to the building on their left hand side. He put on a burst of speed and got to the door first, pulling it open and letting Mac race through before following his partner.

Mac found it more difficult to find purchase on the linoleum and soon ended up slipping and falling flat on her back. Harm stopped to help her but she waved him on. "Get moving, Harm. I'm fine. The people out there aren't," she said vehemently, her expression cold and set. Her tailbone was probably bruised, and she'd hit the back of her head pretty hard when she fell, but otherwise she was fine and Harm could see that, so he turned and started running again.

Mac struggled to her feet and, after gracelessly pulling off her ruined pantyhose and tossing them to the side, she started running after Harm again. She heard footfalls coming up fast to her right and her entire body tensed for a fight—one she wasn't sure she could win if the attacker had the shoot-first-and-don't-bother-with-asking-questions mentality she was sure the group that was shooting down innocent people had.

It turned out to be Admiral Chegwidden. He had been part of the actual ceremony since he was a two-star and the JAG group had planned on meeting up for dinner after everything was over. Mac didn't see that happening anytime soon, though.

"You okay?" Chegwidden asked, his strong hand wrapping around Mac's bicep and pulling her along with him down toward the armoury.

"Peachy," Mac said bitterly. "Harm is headed for the armoury. There are at least three shooters out there with AK-47's. Full cammies, strategic positioning, latest military spec… I'm betting all we find in the armoury is empty racks."

Chegwidden nodded and, without warning, changed directions, heading back the way they came.

Knowing AJ Chegwidden too well to argue with him, Mac simply ran alongside her CO and prayed that the SEAL had a plan.

* * *

**ROBERTS RESIDENCE**

**1902 (EST)**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**MONDAY, JULY 17**

"Sir, ma'am, what are you doing here?" Harriet asked after taking a few deep breaths to get past the shock of seeing Harm and Mac in her home instead of Tiner who she had assumed would be watching television or talking on the phone with Jennifer.

"We came to see AJ," Mac said. "We just got him to sleep."

"Tiner went home to get some sleep himself," Harm put in helpfully.

"Yeah… I came home so he could rest up before work…" Harriet said softly. It was obviously killing her to be away from Bud's side. "Bud's mom is with him now."

Harm put his hand on her arm. "How's he doing?" he asked gently.

"Still in a non-coma," Harriet said as they went into the living room. "They keep telling me that it's a good sign that he's not in a full coma… but I heard the doctors talking… they're worried."

Mac wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders and tried to think of something supportive to say. She prided herself in her ability to find a response to anything and everything, regardless of the subject matter or amount of prep time she got before her reply was expected.

But… there were no words.

The silence seemed to comfort Harriet more than empty platitudes and false hopes ever could, though, so Mac decided not to worry too much about her inability to find something to say.

Harriet took comfort in the presence of her two friends, knowing that they both loved Bud as much as she did, though in blatantly different ways, and she knew that, even if the worst would happen, she wouldn't be alone. The whole JAG family would always be there for her, and for little AJ. Even though she refused to think that she could lose Bud because of this, Harriet felt a little better once armed with that knowledge.

"Thank you for coming over," Harriet said softly. "I think AJ is getting confused, being around Tiner more than me and Bud. It's good that you guys came to see him."

"You should stay home with him tomorrow," Harm said. "I know he can't visit Bud, but I'm sure it would be good for him to have some time with you."

Sighing heavily, Harriet smiled tightly. "I could use some time with him, too," she admitted. "I just don't want to be away from the hospital for too long."

"You're only a phone call away if there's any change," Mac said, "and you need to start taking care of yourself. When was the last time you ate?"

"Um… the bagel in the car on the way to the graduation ceremony?" Harriet said, her words more of a question than an answer.

Without another thought Harm went to make some tea and to find some soup for Harriet to eat—his mother had always told him that nothing made a bleak situation brighter better than some hot soup—and Mac went with Harriet to check on AJ.

"I gave him a bottle about an hour ago, and while Harm cleaned the aftermath of that attempt off the ceiling I gave him a bath," Mac said. "AJ, not Harm," she added quickly. Harriet giggled. "Then AJ and I fought the battle to get him into his sleeper. He fell asleep halfway through that and he's been a little angel ever since," she reported in a hushed voice as they went down the hall to the nursery.

"Good. Tiner said he hasn't been sleeping well lately," Harriet said. "I think he might be having nightmares about the shooting," she added softly.

"I think he just knows that something's not right," Mac said. She rubbed her hand over Harriet's back. "He needs his mother," she said gently before going off, ostensibly to check on Harm but really just wanting to give mother and son some time to reconnect.

* * *

**ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY**

**1409 (EST)**

**ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND**

**SATURDAY, JULY 15**

The armoury was a total bust; the enemy had already neutralized their most obvious line of defence. Harm knew the Commandant had a store of weapons in his office, but that was on the other side of the quad, and he seriously doubted he would be able to make it across the wide-open field without getting some serious lead pumped into his body.

Harm decided to call that _Plan B_.

Unfortunately, without a _Plan A_ his options were seriously limited.

"Rabb, get your ass in gear," a deep voice said from the doorway.

Admiral Chegwidden.

He tossed a pair of handguns to Harm before motioning for the pilot to follow him. They ran back to where Harm and Mac had originally taken cover. Mac was waiting there, her keen eyes trying to confirm that the three shooters were still where they had been ten minutes before.

"I know you would rather have a forty-million dollar hunk of metal right now but you're gonna have to deal with what we've got on hand, Flyboy," Mac said as she aimed her gun at the shooter in the oak tree since he seemed to be taking out the majority of the people who hadn't made it to cover. Tree-guy fell to the ground a moment after she fired the gun, his hand clutching his shoulder. It wasn't a fatal shot, but his weapon had fallen at least ten feet away from him and he was injured. Mac was pleased with the outcome of her shot.

"Hunk of metal?" Harm asked, his tone and expression all righteous indignation, as he lined up his shot for Shrub-guy.

"Children, settle your Navy-vs-Marines battle later. We've got civilians dying out there," Chegwidden said. Normally he was amused by the banter his two senior lawyers engaged in. This wasn't one of those times.

His SEAL training kicked in and Chegwidden took aim, firing off a full clip at the shooter in the shed before deftly reloading and taking out a fourth shooter that neither Harm nor Mac had seen. Harm had managed to kill Shrub-guy while his CO was taking out the other two shooters.

Silence reigned over Annapolis Naval Academy.

And then the shock wore off and the screaming started.

* * *

**ROBERTS RESIDENCE**

**1918 (EST)**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**MONDAY, JULY 17**

Using his key, Harm locked up the townhouse on the way out. Harriet had taken AJ into her room and they had fallen asleep together on Bud's side of the bed after Harm got Harriet to eat some soup and Mac made her promise to call them if she needed anything at all.

"Poor Harriet," Mac said as she waited for Harm to unlock the car. "I can't imagine going through all this crap with Bud while trying to raise an infant."

"I can't imagine trying to raise an infant period," Harm said as he slid into the driver's seat. He reached across the car and unlocked Mac's door.

"I dunno, you were pretty good with AJ tonight," Mac said as she did up her seatbelt. "And you were very parental when you made Harriet eat something before going to bed."

Harm chuckled. "That's from years of my mom drilling new meanings for the term _comfort food _into my head," he said. "Instead of chocolate and ice cream, I got vegetable soup and fresh fruit. Frank would take me out for junk food but that was more because he's got a sweet tooth the size of Canada than anything else."

"I've never heard you talk about Frank like that before," Mac said with a soft smile.

"Like what?" Harm asked, checking for oncoming traffic.

"Like an old friend," Mac said. "You always paint him as this guy who came in and made your mom forget about your dad; the evil stepparent from the fairytales of our youth. I'm glad you have some good memories of growing up with Frank around. Especially now that you understand he wasn't trying to replace your dad."

"I actually have more good memories about Frank than I like to admit," Harm said. "I just never really got over the whole 'new dad' thing. I don't think I ever will."

Mac reached over and ran her hand down his arm, giving his muscles a light squeeze before letting go again. "Just because you have good memories of hanging out with your stepfather doesn't mean that the time you spent with your real father was any less special or important."

"I know. Sometimes I just felt so guilty."

"For enjoying having Frank in your life when your dad was out there somewhere?" Mac asked.

"Something like that," Harm nodded. "It's only been since I found out what really happened to my dad that I've been able to really get to know Frank."

"Have you two spent any time together? Done any bonding things?" Mac asked.

Harm smiled. "He was in DC one week for some work thing and he got a day off. I took him up in 'Sarah'."

"Did he love it?" Mac asked, beaming at the memories of her own first flight in 'Sarah'. Gunshot wound notwithstanding it was an amazing trip.

"He got airsick ten minutes out," Harm laughed.

"Good to know I'm not the only one who gets sick when you start pulling stunts," Mac teased.

"Flying in a Tomcat and a Stearman are totally different, Mac, and when I said Frank got sick ten minutes out, I mean literally ten minutes out. I had barely cleared the airfield when he started heaving."

"Thanks for sharing," Mac said, scrunching up her nose in disgust.

They chatted comfortably until they got back to Harm's apartment where Mac had left her car. "Want to come up for some coffee?" Harm offered.

"It's late, and I've got a ton of work to do tomorrow," Mac said, feeling a little like this was the end of a date. The only thing was that, despite her weak protests, she _wanted_ to go up to Harm's apartment. If only to stay in his comforting presence for a little while longer. "There's bound to be major fallout from yesterday," she finished, hoping that the truth of the statement would be enough for her to convince herself that the best course of action was for her to get herself home.

Harm nodded. "I've already been warned to be on time tomorrow," he said, taking her protests at face value. "Bud's replacement comes in on Wednesday and I'm supposed to make sure that his office is ready for it's new occupant."

"That's fast," Mac commented, toying with her keys.

"Normally it wouldn't be so… immediate," Harm said. "But with the high profile deaths and the fact that our office is going to be getting it from all sides… SecNav feels it is best to keep moving as if nothing's happened."

"So who is it?" Mac asked.

"Don't have a clue. All I know is that we're getting a Navy commander who has been shipped around to five different JAG offices in the last few years," Harm said. "London, San Diego, Russia, France, and somewhere in South America."

"Any idea why they've been moved so much? Disciplinary problems? Special skills? Anything?"

"Nothing of note," Harm said. "Disciplinary action consists of nothing that everyone hasn't done a hundred times before. Speaking out of turn, late paperwork, your basic slips that no one really gives a damn about. The Admiral said he didn't get any real information, just that we should expect our new co-worker on Wednesday morning and that we should try not to scare this one away."

Mac smiled and they said a quick goodnight before they went their separate ways; her into her car and him into the building.

They both knew that the next few months would be hell.

* * *

**ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY**

**1414 (EST)**

**ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND**

**SATURDAY, JULY 15**

When all was said and done three terrorists, fifty-six civilians, and eighty-one military personal were killed; one hundred and fifty men, women, and children were wounded, and almost a thousand people were traumatised.

Not letting go of their weapons, Harm and Mac went off in search of Bud, Harriet, and AJ Roberts while the Admiral went to secure Tree-guy. Harriet and AJ had been inside looking at some old pictures with 'mommy', 'Uncle Harm', and 'Uncle AJ' in them with their respective classes, and had been safe from the shooting, though the gunfire had scared little AJ out of his mind and he had yet to stop crying. His wails led his Aunt Mac and Uncle Harm to him and his mother.

"What the hell happened?" Harriet demanded, not caring about protocol, just wanting to know what had happened to cause her son to scream like a banshee.

"Four men with AK-47's let loose on the crowd," Harm said.

"They've been taken care of," Mac said, tucking her gun in the waistband of her ruined uniform skirt.

Harriet visibly relaxed for a moment before tensing up.

"BUD!" she cried, hurriedly passing her son to his godmother and tearing off down the hallway toward the quad.

Harm looked at Mac desperately. "Go," she urged, cradling AJ closer to her chest and stroking his downy head soothingly. The sudden passing-off hadn't helped AJ calm down any. Harm took off after Harriet; catching up to her quickly since the office-manager wasn't accustomed to running in heels and Harm had already found the right speed and weight-distribution to limit slipping on the linoleum in his dress shoes.

"Harriet, slow down," Harm said, gripping her shoulder as he slowed down a little to keep from passing her.

"Bud's hurt, sir," Harriet said, speeding up and pulling free of his grasp without further explanation.

Harm didn't argue. He had seen enough things, been through enough horrors to know that when the person you loved most in the world was hurt you just _knew_, instinctively. It was programmed into the human DNA, like the 'fight or flight' urges; like the need to propagate the species; like the most basic of instincts that, even if you choose to ignore the message, you still hear it loud and clear. Harm's grandma Sarah said that it all came down to a connection of souls. Sarah Rabb believed that everyone's souls were broken down into pieces and that throughout your lifetime you would meet people who had other parts to your soul and would make your life more complete. They could be friends, lovers, even a pet. She also believed that, though everyone only had one true soulmate, all the other people who contained a piece of your soul had a piece of you, and therefore could feel what you felt.

Believing that Harriet and Bud were soulmates, and, therefore, had the biggest part of each other's souls in their metaphysical possession, Harm sped up, keeping pace with the blonde lieutenant who was searching frantically for her husband.

Like lead shavings to a magnet, Harriet found Bud. He was lying in the grass, bleeding from the chest. A redheaded woman in her early twenties was applying pressure to his chest while begging him not to die and thanking him for saving her life.

The next half hour was a blur of tears, screams, and ambulance wails. Harriet broke down next to her husband and, even when the paramedics came over to tend to him, she wouldn't leave his side. Harm stayed behind while Harriet rode to the hospital with Bud who, the paramedics said, probably had a badly damaged lung and needed surgery immediately.

"He pushed me out of the way," the redhead said softly, looking at the blood on her hands and clothing. "He saved my life," she said, tears falling down her cheeks in waves. "I don't even know his name."

"Lieutenant Commander Bud Roberts, JAG Corp. We work together," Harm said. He pulled a card from his wallet. "I have to check on some other people. If you need anything, though, please don't hesitate to call me."

"Thank you," the redhead, Melody, said, tucking the card into her purse to avoid bloodying it.

Harm gave her a reassuring smile before heading off to find the Admiral and Mac.

An hour later Harm's cell phone rang as he was giving his statement to the FBI. Seeing as it was federal property, the Feds were taking over the investigation, something that relieved the JAG staff immensely.

Harriet's news, however, did not relieve anyone.

"Bud's right lung was torn up by the bullets… the surgeon said he has to remove it."

That was the extent of what Harriet said to Harm before hanging up.

Harm then had the daunting and unenviable task of informing Chegwidden and Mac of what had happened to their friend and co-worker.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**0639 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Tuesday had passed relatively well. Calls from the press were mostly being fielded by the FBI and most of the complaints about security were going through Annapolis. Harm only had to deal with the regular caseloads as well as some of the higher-ups who wanted to know what the hell he, Mac, and the Admiral had been doing there in the first place, let alone with weapons, as well as why the situation wasn't diffused earlier.

Harm had exercised a lot of restraint to keep from telling the Commandant from Annapolis that if he had made sure the armoury was locked and guarded according to SOP the would mess could have been avoided. The head lab tech at Quantico had called Harm at home at five o'clock to tell him that the tests had come back positive.

The AK-47's had come from the campus armoury.

Naturally the press would lap that information up like melting ice cream in the middle of summer, and, beyond the shooters, the lab tech from Quantico, the two FBI agents who were the lead investigators of the attack, Harm, and the SecNav, no one knew that little detail. Harm had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't stay that way for long, but, for the moment, the secret was safe.

Bud still hadn't woken up, and the doctors had stopped saying that it was a coma-like state and had finally announced that it was, in fact, a coma that Bud was laying in. That news did nothing to bolster the confidence of Harriet, or the JAG staff, and Harm had hated being the one who had to pass the message along to everyone else.

Harm was shaken from his thoughts by a knock at the door. 'His' yeoman wasn't due in for at least twenty minutes so he had no clue who was at the door. Harm had a momentary pang at the loss of the expansive windows that made up the walls of his own office. Real walls were disconcerting after spending so many years in his bright office off the bullpen. 

"Enter," Harm called, still feeling that it was too early to be awake, let alone deal with whatever problem had arisen.

The door opened and the sight before him made Harm freeze up completely.

"Oh my god," two completely shocked voices said simultaneously.

* * *

_I doubt anyone will be surprised about who is at the door._

_Let me know what you think._

_M_


	3. Chapter Three

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU, and very messed up, so stay with me here._

_-Harm has had his eyes fixed but he's not returning to flying._

_-Little AJ is about three months old (I'm assuming he was born in May sometime, and, for the purposes of this story, please just go along with that)._

_-Chegwidden and Harriet (and Harm, obviously) are Annapolis graduates; Mac and Bud are OCS grads. It's never really been said where Chegwidden, Harriet, and Bud went, so I made an executive decision._

_-Mic is on loan from RAN to the JAG office and is still annoying Mac at every turn. **THERE WILL BE NO MAC/BUGME RELATIONSHIP**. Beyond the fact that I loathe Mic, I can't get past the idea of having two characters named Mic and Mac get together. It's like when my friend Yin Lee married James Yang. Creepy._

_DEDICATION: To Tracey Needham, for bringing the character of Meg Austin to life, and to all the Harm/Meg shippers out there._

_NOTE: I swear I don't have anything against Harriet or Bud. Honestly._

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**0639 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Harm was shaken from his thoughts by a knock at the door. 'His' yeoman wasn't due in for at least twenty minutes so he had no clue who was at the door. Harm had a momentary pang at the loss of the expansive windows that made up the walls of his own office. Real walls were disconcerting after spending so many years in his bright office off the bullpen.

"Enter," Harm called, still feeling that it was too early to be awake, let alone deal with whatever problem had arisen.

The door opened and the sight before him made Harm freeze up completely.

"Oh my god," two completely shocked voices said simultaneously.

"What are you doing here?" Harm asked, standing up and grinning at his former partner.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? I thought Admiral Chegwidden was still the JAG," Meg said, moving over to Harm and giving him a hug as he held her tightly.

"I'm filling in while he's in San Diego," Harm said.

"I thought you would have moved on to greener pastures years ago," Meg said with a smile.

Harm smiled back. She was beautiful. Her tanned skin was painted with freckles, something Harm knew happened to her when she was in the sun for too long. Her blonde hair was cut a little differently and had more curl to it than it used to, making her look even more innocent and angelic than ever before.

"Never gonna happen," Harm said. He truly loved working at JAG, and he wasn't sure he would give it up for anything. "Are you back?" he asked.

Meg nodded. "My assignment in Honduras finished up last month and I didn't have anything exciting or, well, _anything_ lined up so when the SecNav told me to get to Washington I jumped at the chance," she said. She looked up at Harm and asked a question she knew she didn't want to hear the answer to. "How's Bud?"

"Not good," Harm admitted, leading Meg over to the couch. "He slipped into a coma late last night. And even if he comes out of it, his career in the Navy is over."

Meg sank back into the soft leather of the couch. "What's he going to do?"

Harm shrugged. "I guess he and Harriet are going to have to talk about it… after he wakes up," he said. The unsaid 'if' hung in the air like the blade of guillotine.

* * *

**J EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING**

**0659 (EST)**

**WASHINGTON, DC**

**WEDENSDAY, JULY 19**

Feeling slightly out of place in her lightweight summer blouse and skirt, Mac waded through the masses of suit-clad Special Agents and assorted Federal employees. Damning herself for not setting her alarm clock the night before, Mac prayed that the agents in charge of the Annapolis shooting investigation didn't have any pressing meetings coming up that couldn't be delayed a little to make room for Mac to find out what the FBI had so far.

A Marine guard was standing in front of the elevator, checking badges before allowing anyone in. It had been a while since Mac had visited the Hoover building and she had forgotten how tight security had become in recent years. Mac flashed her military credentials and saluted the sergeant before stepping onto the elevator, feeling even more out of place in the enclosed space.

She absently listened to chatter about cases and personal lives, not really caring about what was being said, just taking comfort in the sounds of people's voices. Her apartment had been far too silent since Chloe went back to her grandparent's farm, and JAG was nowhere near as lively as she was used to. It felt good to be around lively people again.

Getting off on the appropriate floor, Mac found her way to the right office. _Special Agent Marilyn Rowe _was written on the tempered glass window in the door. Below Agent Rowe's name was her partner's name.

_Special Agent William Reigner._

The name sent shivers down Mac's spine.

Good shivers.

Raising her hand to lightly rap on the door, Mac prepared herself for a blast from the past.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**0710 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

"Do you have a place to stay?" Harm asked as he and Meg headed for the morning staff call.

"I found a halfway decent place near my old neck of the woods," Meg nodded. "All my stuff is in storage, though. I'm living out of a suitcase at least until the weekend. Hey, you wouldn't happen to know any able-bodied sailors who are good for lugging boxes, would ya?" she asked innocently.

"You are _so_ going to owe me, Austin," Harm said with a good-natured smile. He knew his back would not be happy with him for playing _He-Man_ but he just couldn't not help Meg out. Especially not when she looked at him like she was at that moment.

"Good morning, everyone," Harm said after waving off the group that had stood at attention for him when he entered the conference room. "This is Lieutenant Commander Austin," he said, indicating Meg, "Naval weapons specialist and seasoned JAG investigator. Commander, this is our current line-up. Commander Mic Brumby, currently on loan to us from the Royal Australian Navy. Petty Officers Jason Tiner and Jennifer Coates. And, of course, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie… where's Mac?"

"The Colonel called a few minutes ago, sir. She said that she was going to stop off at the Hoover Building to see what the Feds have come up with on Annapolis and then she is going to track down a reluctant witness for the Article 32 she's trying," Tiner said. "She said to call if you need her and that she will try to be back this afternoon."

"Very well," Harm said. "Brumby, how is your case coming along?"

"Fine," Mic said, not elaborating. Harm didn't press the issue.

"Alright. Keep me updated," Harm said. Mic nodded curtly. "Okay, now for the depressing part of the meeting," Harm said. "Bud slipped into a full coma late last night or early this morning. And, before you ask, that's all Harriet told me before hanging up, so I don't have any details."

Even Mic was disheartened by this news.

"Coates, I want a complete update from the hospital. No details are to be left out, understood?" Harm said. Jennifer nodded. "Tiner, I need the full casualties list from Sunday. Everything from stubbed toes to mortal wounds. Names, contact numbers, reasons for attendance, rank if applicable. I also need a list of our staff that are available to aid the FBI in the investigation. The SecNav wants JAG to make our presence known in this." Tiner took note of everything he was to take care of and nodded.

"Will there be anything else, sir?" Jennifer asked.

"Um…" Harm said, checking the list he had in front of him. "Yes. When you get a chance Meg needs a new set of keys for the building, the conference rooms, library, as well as for my office. Harriet hasn't been up to coming in yet and I haven't had a chance to pack up Bud's things, so Meg will be in my office until hers is ready. And, if you have the time, password set-up for her computer."

"Yes, sir," Jennifer said.

Looking at the Petty Officers Harm said a quick 'dismissed'. Once Jennifer and Tiner had left the room Harm looked at Meg and Mic. "The Admiral left orders for me to assign you two as partners for the duration of Commander Brumby's stay Stateside. Any arguments about that?" he asked.

"None that I can think of," Mic said, leering at Meg.

"Nor I," Meg said, though she was clearly uncomfortable with the looks she was receiving from the Aussie.

"Good. Brumby, I have some paperwork to go over with Commander Austin, but after that you two should go over your current caseload and see what, if anything, Meg can take off your hands," Harm said.

"Alright," Mic said, grabbing his files and heading for the door.

"Sorry to stick you with him," Harm said to Meg.

"I'll be fine. I survived a year with you, after all," Meg said with a grin.

"Please don't compare me to that jackass ever again," Harm said seriously.

Meg sobered up. "You're nowhere near as bad as him, Harm. Besides, any attention you paid me was welcome."

"Good to know," Harm said as they headed to his office so he could refresh her memory on where he kept things. "If it gets too bad with Brumby, though, just let me know. Mac's been having trouble with him since they met and from the way he was looking at you I'm sure you're going to be getting a lot of his attention from here on out."

"Lucky me," Meg scowled. Harm offered her a smile. "So, how's life been?" she asked.

"Never dull," Harm grinned.

* * *

**J EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING**

**0704 (EST)**

**WASHINGTON, DC**

**WEDENSDAY, JULY 19**

Agent Marilyn Rowe opened the door to the small office and flashed a weak smile at Mac. "I had a feeling I'd be hearing from JAG today. I thought it'd be over the phone, but, hey, you Marines are just full of sneak attacks and surprises, aren't ya?"

"That's part of the job description," Mac replied with a half-hearted smile.

Marilyn sat down at her desk and motioned for Mac to take a seat across from her. "We have some preliminary reports ready, but the one surviving shooter isn't talking," she said. "It was a nice shot, especially from that distance."

"Thank you," Mac said. Though she hated to admit it, her marksman training had come in handy more times than she could count since she had joined JAG. So much for a nice, safe career as a lawyer.

Not that she had joined the Marines for 'nice and safe'.

"My partner, Agent Reigner, just went up to speak to our AD—Assistant Director—and when he gets back he'll be able to fill you in on the more recent revelations. He's an ex-Marine and an Annapolis graduate so he's taking this whole case more than a little personally."

"I know. Will and I served together in Okinawa. When the Secretary of the Navy gave my CO—Commanding Officer—the list of agents who he felt would be right to investigate the attack… the Admiral wanted someone who has the military close to their hearts," Mac explained.

"How is your man, the one who was shot saving that girl?" Marilyn asked.

"He's alive, though barely," Mac said.

"What about his family? How are they taking all this?"

Mac sighed heavily. "His wife isn't sleeping or eating… she went home last night and my partner and I got her to eat some soup before getting some sleep… but it's like part of her just isn't there anymore. And their son, AJ, doesn't even know what's going on. All he knows is that something's wrong, and that his parents aren't around to make it better."

"How old is he?"

"Five months," Mac said. "My CO's two yeomen are switching off days babysitting him, and my partner, Harm, and I went over last night so he'd have some more familiar faces, but… it's hard to get away from work at a decent hour. We were short staffed before Bud was shot, and now that he's gone too… there are three lawyers taking on the caseloads that should be spread over six or seven."

"That sucks," Marilyn said sympathetically.

Mac rolled her eyes at the massively blatantunderstatement but didn't say anything. Marilyn opened her mouth to break the silence but the door opened and her loudmouthed partner beat her to it.

"Hey, Mare, Jakobson is all over our six's on this one," William said, tossing a file to Marilyn who caught it with practised ease.

"You haven't worn wings for almost fifteen years, Will, cut the pilot crap already," Marilyn shot back. "It drives me crazy when he does that. The man hasn't flown his damned chopper in fourteen years and yet our AD has yet to chew out his _ass_, it's always his damned _six_," she said to Mac.

"I know the feeling. My partner's a fighter pilot and I have to spend far too much time on carriers for my liking so I get pilot chatter from all sides," Mac smiled back.

"That wouldn't be the voice to the lovely Major Sarah MacKenzie, would it?" William asked.

"No, that would be the voice of the lovely _Lieutenant Colonel_ Sarah MacKenzie, thank you very much," Mac shot back.

William smiled. "Contgrats, Mac. You deserve it," he said, leaning down and dropping a quick kiss on the corner of her mouth.

"Thank," Mac said, praying she wasn't blushing too badly. She had had a crush on William when they served together but she had been seeing John Farrow and one inter-chain-of-command relationship was enough for her to deal with at once.

But damn it if the man hadn't gotten hotter since they'd last seen each other.

"So, what do we owe the pleasure of your company to?" William said as he collapsed into his chair.

"The Colonel is JAG," Marilyn said. "She wants an update on our investigation."

William shook his head, feigning disappointment. "I still can't believe you left the grit and grime to be an ambulance chaser," he said.

"You left it for a padded leather chair and a cheap suit," Mac rejoined. "And I don't chase ambulances."

"Do I need to separate you two?" Marilyn asked, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

William chuckled as he shook his head. "I faxed copies of everything we have so far over to the Commandant at Annapolis. He said he'd make sure that Admiral Chuckwagon gets it ASAP."

"Chegwidden," Mac corrected automatically, unable to hide the smirk at the thought of what the former SEAL would do if he found out a Marine was calling him 'Chuckwagon'. "Admiral Chegwidden."

"He's not another Farrow to you, is he?" William frowned. He had never approved of her relationship with John Farrow, and had never made any attempts to hide his displeasure at their quote-unquote _romance_.

"An emphatic _no_. He's just a good CO and a good friend," Mac said. "And he's out of town for the next few weeks. Commander Harmon Rabb Jr is acting JAG in his place."

"Out of town?" Marilyn asked, her investigator's mind trying to see if that had anything to do with the shootout at the graduation ceremony.

"A meeting for all the CO's of JAG's all over the world. They're coming together to compare notes on cases, swap personnel if need be, and take some much needed time off before going back to the insanity that is running a JAG office," Mac said. She pulled out three cards and handed them to Marilyn. "My card, Commander Rabb's, and Admiral Chegwidden's contact information. Just try to remember that he's in San Diego so there's a time change and he is not a morning person, so calling early will probably get your head chewed off."

"Aye aye, ma'am," William smirked.

"Fine, laugh if you want, but it's your _six_ that'll be in a sling if you piss him off," Mac said. She shouldered her leather purse-style briefcase. "If you get anything from the surviving shooter, please let me know."

"Of course. What number would be the easiest to reach you on?" Marilyn asked.

"The office number. If I'm not in just leave a message for me to call you—otherwise whatever you have to say will end up the hot topic for scuttlebutt," Mac said.

Marilyn nodded and smiled at Mac as she headed for the door. "I'll walk you out," William said, jumping from his seat and hurrying around his desk to catch Mac before she got to the door. Marilyn watched and smiled after the pair.

"So, how long have you been stationed in DC?" William asked as they headed for the elevator.

"A few years," Mac said. "I still travel a lot, but I like the semi-stability of life in the city." She glanced over at him. "How long have you been in DC? Last I heard you were fresh out of Quantico and investigating fertilizer purchases in Nowhere-Idaho."

"Nowhere-Iowa, actually, and I've been in DC for about ten months now. My partner and I ended up cracking a huge terrorism plot, which got our names in front of the eyes of AD's in better areas than _dung duty_. We got tossed a few murder cases, you know, the ones that other teams pass over or can't figure out. We ended up on the tail of a serial killer who was torturing and mutilating children before leaving them tied to their swing sets. It… was not good, to the _nth_ degree. We caught the guy, but my partner couldn't deal and he quit, went private sector. I got a promotion and came here."

"I don't know whether to say 'congratulations' or 'sorry'," Mac said.

"I'll settle for dinner," William said.

Mac's cell phone started ringing and she cringed. She as late in meeting a civilian lawyer who had offered to help her track down a reluctant witness.

"MacKenzie," she said reluctantly, flashing an apologetic smile at William.

"Hey, Mac, I know you're probably stuck on the Beltway but Detective Warrens has been calling here looking for you," Harm said, his voice filled with concern.

"I'm sorry, Harm. I'll take care of that right away," Mac said, rubbing her temples. She hadn't planned on stopping at the Hoover building before meeting Detective Warrens. "Um… did the new guy get in alright?" she asked, hoping Harm wouldn't push on the topic of where she was.

"Yeah," Harm said. "I'll fill you in when you get back, 'kay?"

Mac frowned. "Should I be looking forward to this or dreading it?" she asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Harm said. Mac could almost hear his smile over the phone line. "What time do you think you'll get back to the office?"

"I don't know. It kinda depends on how well the search for this witness goes," Mac said honestly. "Probably after lunch. Why, is there anything I need to take care of before then?"

"No, everything's fine," Harm assured her. "Just… be careful, okay?"

Mac smiled. "Always, Flyboy," she said softly before saying a quick goodbye and hanging up.

William was grinning at her.

"What?" Mac asked, blushing slightly.

"Boyfriend?" William asked.

"Best friend," Mac corrected. "I'm not his type," she added as she started walking again.

"I find that hard to believe," William said.

Mac rolled her eyes. "We just… haven't got the best timing," she said ironically. "Either I'm ready and he's not, or he's ready and I'm not, or we're both ready but we're both seeing other people…" Mac explained. "So it's sort of an unspoken agreement that we push aside our feelings and remain best friends and nothing more. Makes things less complicated."

William nodded and then said, "So, about my question."

"It wasn't a question," Mac said.

"Lawyers," William said with an exaggerated eye roll. "Fine. Sarah MacKenzie, will you go to dinner with me tonight?"

Mac smiled. "I'd love to," she said. She handed him another one of her cards. "Call my cell with the details. I get of work at 1800."

And with that she walked to her car, her day already getting much better than it was when she woke up.

* * *

_What did you think? Obviously William and Marilyn are my creation, as is the conference thing Chegwidden is at._

_I still haven't decided if Bud will pull through or not, and I won't tell you which way I'm leaning, either. If you've read my other stories, you'll know I'm not afraid to kill characters off, but I'm also not adverse to the occasional miraculous recovery._

_Sorry the story hasn't been all that fast-paced, plot-wsie,yet, but I'm working up to a pretty big story-line so the boredom will be appreciated later, I promise._

_Please let me know what you think._

_M_


	4. Chapter Four

_THIS IS THE REAL CHAPTER FOUR. THE SONG WAS A MIS-CLICK ON MY PART. SORRY._

* * *

__

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE:_

_-A little AU. See previous chapters for further details._

_-Special Agents William Regnier and Marilyn Rowe are my creations. William is loosely based on a composite of Michael Vaughn from ALIAS and Fox Mulder from the X-Files, both physically and personality-wise, and is named after all the Williams there are between the two shows (didn't it ever occur to them to name the kid something **other** than William?). Marilyn is a mixture of all the female role models in my life, and is named (first name, at least) after my mother, the strongest person I know. If you feel you just **have **to use them, just accredit their creation to me, please._

_- No goats were harmed in the making of this chapter._

_DEDICATION: To Tracey Needham, for bringing the character of Meg Austin to life, and to all the Harm/Meg shippers out there._

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**1041 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

After avoiding Mic Brumby for over an hour, Meg had gone to the break room for coffee and she'd been cornered by the cocky officer.

He'd put his hand on the small of her back, trying to slip it a little lower, and led her to his office so they could go over the cases they would be working together.

Jennifer, who had seen Mic leading Meg across the bullpen, had waited for about half an hour before going in to talk to Harm about it.

"Sir?" she said, poking her head through the doorway.

"Come in," Harm said while signing off on some forms. He looked up at her after closing the file and moving it to his OUT box. "What can I do for you, Coates?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Jennifer requested. Harm inclined his head, knowing that, when the Petty Officer decided to speak freely, she really went all out. It was one of the things he liked about her. "I just thought you would like to know that Commander Austin and Commander Brumby have been in his office for the pastfifty five minutes and she does not look very happy about the subject matter, sir."

"How unhappy?" Harm asked, his entire body tensing up at the thought of Mic harassing Meg.

"Frankly, sir, she looks like she wants to jab her pen through her eye," Coates said bluntly.

"Okay, I'll take care of it. Thank you, Jen," Harm said, letting her know that he appreciated her eagle eye on a personal level rather than a professional one in this instance.

Jennifer smiled and stood at attention before heading back to her desk.

Harm left the Admiral's desk and went out to the bullpen, quickly sending out a page to Meg's satellite pager with a message that he hoped wouldn't get him in trouble with his former partner.

Before anyone could see him, Harm went back to the Admiral's office and closed the door.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**1043 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Meg sighed heavily as Brumby pulled out yet another file. She hadn't even gotten the cup of coffee she had headed to the break room for over an hour before, and her patience was fading fast.

Before Brumby could sit back down in the chair that he'd pulled a little too close to hers, Meg's pager went off.

Thanking the Powers That Be, Meg looked at the screen and bit her lip to keep from smiling.

**If you need an out, this is your chance. I suggest you take it. Harm.**

"I'm sorry, Commander, but I have to tend to this," Meg said, holding up her pager.

"Please, call me Mic," Brumby said.

Meg suppressed the urge to shudder. "This could take me a while. If there's any cases you want me to take over, just leave them in my office. I'm sure I can get up to speed without taking up any more of your time," Meg said, smiling sweetly before making a hasty exit and heading back to her temporary office.

Closing the door and locking it, Meg took a slow breath before heading for the phone and calling the Admiral's office.

Coate's answered. "Judge Advocate General."

"Hello, Coates, its Commander Austin. I was wondering if the Commander is busy at the moment."

"No, he's not busy right now, ma'am would you like me to patch you through?" Coates asked with a smile.

"Yes, thank you," Meg said.

A moment later Harm picked up. "Commander Rabb."

"Thank you for the escape route," Meg said. "I was _this close_ to making up some fake meeting to get away from that guy."

"No problem," Harm said.

"How did you know, though? You haven't left the Admiral's office all morning," Meg said.

"Petty Officer Coates has an eye for this sort of thing. She said, and I quote, that you looked ready to jab your pen through your eye," Harm said, provoking a soft giggle from Meg. "How bad was he?"

"Lecherous, but non-threatening," Meg said honestly. She never could lie to Harm, not even over the phone.

"Good," Harm said. "Other than Brumby, how is it being back here?"

Meg paused for a moment, thinking about the best way to word her response. "It's… odd."

"Odd? Could you possibly make that answer a little vaguer?" Harm teased.

"I could say it's 'weird'," Meg offered.

"Odd is better," Harm said. "But odd in what way?"

Meg sighed. "It's just… I love it here, and I'm so glad that I got the chance to come back. But I'm replacing someone I know, someone who came to JAG on my recommendation. I feel like I should be feeling guilty that I'm back here when Bud is in the hospital…" she said softly. "I feel like I'm being resented for being here."

"Meg, you are not here to replace Bud. I mean, you are, sort of, but the Admiral was looking to bring in more people even before Bud got shot," Harm said. "No one resents you. Anyone who was here when you were before is glad to have you back, and the people who haven't worked with you before will fall in love with you soon enough. Remember, you felt this way when you came in to replace Kate before, and everything worked out fine, then."

"Kate left of her own free will, though. Bud didn't," Meg pointed out.

"That's besides the point," Harm said. "Look, most of us are going over to the hospital after work to see if we can get in to see Bud for a little while. Why don't you come with us?"

"I'll see how the rest of the day goes before I answer that one," Meg said.

"Fair enough. But at least join me for lunch," Harm said.

"That I can do," Meg smiled.

"Good. Come by whenever you're ready," Harm said.

"Will do. Thank Coates for me, will ya?" Meg said.

Harm chuckled. "Already done."

"You know me too well," Meg said with a warm smile that Harm couldn't see but could feel. Then she hung up.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**1200 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Unable to find her witness, Mac had left the detective and had gone for an early lunch, hoping that, by the time she got back to the office most people would have dissipated for lunch and she would get some time to sit in her office and stew over how she knew she was going to lose her case without the witness and her client was going to end up going to Leavenworth for the rest of his youth.

The bullpen was virtually empty, a few Petty Officers sitting at their desks to eat or working through the break for whatever reason—usually when the Admiral was away the office slowed down a little, especially when Harm was in charge because he wasn't as pushy and definitely not as intimidating, despite his height.

Mac slipped into her office, hoping no one had noticed her, and, after checking her messages to see if there was anything important, she closed the blinds and sat down at her desk with her head in her hands, the silence helping her figure out what, if any, alternate options there were for her client.

She was just about to give up and call the prosecutor about a deal that he'd offered before when her cell phone rang. Without checking who was calling she answered.

"MacKenzie," she said with a heavy sigh. She wasn't sure if she could take more bad news.

"That's not a happy greeting," William commented. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, this is the perfect time," Mac said, cheering up immediately. She tensed up a moment later, though. Years of dashed hopes and her father's unique brand of drunken psychological warfare had taught her not to look forward to something too much. "That is, unless you're calling to cancel or to tell me you're married with eight kids and that it wouldn't be right for us to have dinner tonight."

"No, actually, I'm calling to ask if La Tours at eight is alright with you for our date," William said. "Why would you think that I would be married with eight kids?" he asked. Mac could almost hear his forehead creasing in the adorable worry lines he had. The man was like a big puppy sometimes, and she loved that about him.

"No reason. It's just been a pretty shitty day," Mac said. "And La Tours sounds great. I haven't been there in ages."

"Good. I'll pick you up around seven thirty," William said.

Mac mentally figured out how much time that would give her once she fought traffic on the Beltway and then she smiled and gave him her address. "See you then," she said before hanging up.

Her case wasn't looking any better, but Mac's mood had improved by about a hundred points.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**1207 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

"So, _Twenty-Questions_, or _Back-and-Forth_?" Meg asked as they sat down in the courtyard with their lunches.

"I've got a conference call with the SecNav and a couple Senators at 1300, so _Twenty-Questions_ is out," Harm said, somewhat reluctantly. They always ended up revealing more than they were entirely comfortable with when they played _Back-and-Forth_. And _Twenty-Questions_ was better for getting to the details of what had happened over time.

"Okay, I'll start," Meg said as she stabbed at a piece of spinach in her salad and sent out a little plea that the tines of her plastic fork wouldn't break on a crouton or something. "Since we last saw each other I learned Italian and I've started working on Japanese."

Harm nodded, then said, "I checked a total stranger for dilation," he said.

"I hope she was in labour when you did it," Meg teased. Harm shot her a look and she went back to their game. "I let myself get conned into being auctioned off at a Navy fundraiser and the guy that 'bought' me ended up being the brother of my best friend from grade school who I happened to have the biggest crush on until I was fifteen and realized that just 'cause he was hot didn't make him nice and that he didn't rate locker-door space."

Harm replied to that with the story of his time playing bodyguard/escort to an honest-to-god princess who looked remarkably similar to the whiny girl on the college edition of Saved By The Bell that Chloe had managed to make him sit through one night when he and Mac had been trying to work on a case.

Meg laughed at that story and replied with a humours assignment of her own involving the explosion of a base's armoury in Honduras that had ended up being caused by a pair of goats getting into the armoury and literally eating a grenade. Harm cringed at the thought of an innocent goat chomping down on something that probably looked like an apple to the animal and ending up in a billion pieces.

For almost forty-five minutes they went back and forth with stories of things they'd done or seen since they had last seen each other, then, reluctantly, they threw out the trash from their lunches and headed back to the office.

"So, I was thinking that maybe after we visit Bud some of us could get together for dinner," Harm said to Meg as they made their way up the stairs to avoid the elevators that they knew would be jammed.

"Some of us?" Meg inquired innocently.

Harm shrugged. "You, me, Mac, Jen and Tiner, maybe Harriet if we can get her away from the hospital for long enough," he said.

"I haven't met Mac yet," Meg reminded him.

"She's been working out of the office all morning. She should be back by now, though," Harm said as they got to he right floor. He glanced across the bullpen and noticed that her blinds were closed. They hadn't been that morning. "Her blinds are closed," he said.

"So?" Meg asked, not getting the significance of Mac's closed blinds.

"So something is weighing heavy on her," Harm said. "She's shutting herself off from the rest of us."

Meg nodded and put her hand on Harm's forearm. "You have that conference call coming up," she said, knowing Harm well enough to know that he would rather look after his friend than play politics. He would rather run buck naked around a carrier in the middle of a level three than play politics.

"Yeah," Harm said with a deep sigh. "Do me a favour?"

"Anything," Meg said.

"Keep Brumby away from Mac for the rest of the day," Harm said. Meg nodded, not entirely sure how she was supposed to do that, and Harm headed off to the Admiral's office, leaving Meg standing by the copy machine trying to figure out how to do what Harm wanted her to.

* * *

_What did you think?_

_M_


	5. Chapter Five

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE:_

_-A little AU. See previous chapters for further details._

_-Special Agents William Regnier and Marilyn Rowe are my creations. William is loosely based on a composite of Michael Vaughn from ALIAS and Fox Mulder from the X-Files, both physically and personality-wise, and is named after all the Williams there are between the two shows (didn't it ever occur to them to name the kid something other than William?). Marilyn is a mixture of all the female role models in my life, and is named (first name, at least) after my mother, the strongest person I know. If you feel you just **have **to use them, just accredit their creation to me, please._

_DEDICATION: To Tracey Needham, for bringing the character of Meg Austin to life, and to all the Harm/Meg shippers out there._

* * *

_**For those of you know read a song instead of chapter four, please go back and read the actual chapter. I had the song in my documents manager folder thing and it was right on top of the chapter for this and... well, I guess the mouse slipped or maybe I just wasn't paying attention... anyway, the real chapter is there now.**_

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**1520 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

The knock on Mac's door was not entirely unexpected, though it had come later than she thought it would. She crossed the room and unlocked the door, pulling it open without checking to see who was on the other side.

She already knew who was there.

She knew it like she knew the time down to the nearest ten seconds.

She knew it like she knew the sun would rise in the East every morning and set in the West every evening.

Harm.

"So, are we gonna talk about it, or are you just gonna sit in your cave all day and not speak to me at all?" Harm asked, coming into her darkened office and closing the door before sitting down in his usual chair.

"Talk about what?" Mac asked innocently.

"Whatever is causing you to sit in your office with all the blinds closed in the middle of the day," Harm said. "If anyone likes sunlight, it's you, Mac. It's not like you to sit in the dark. So I ask again, are we going to talk about it, or are you going to blow me off and pretend that this isn't happening?"

Mac sighed heavily. "I couldn't track down the witness and William and his partner haven't got so much as a grunt out of the surviving shooter," she said.

"William?"

"William Regnier. Former Marine, currently the Special Agent in Charge of the Annapolis shooting," Mac said while praying that she wasn't blushing. Not even forty-eight hours ago she was contemplating what it would be like to go up to Harm's apartment and give in to her desire for the attractive lawyer/pilot, and then William came back into her life and all she could see was him. She had never been so glad she hadn't had sex in her life—because she knew that if she and Harm ever got together, that would be it for the rest of their lives. And, while she was sure they would be incredibly happy together, and she was positive the sex would be mind blowing, something was telling her that Harm wasn't her fate, despite what she had thought for the past several years. And that same something was telling her that William might just be the reason she had held back from Harm for so long. "We were stationed together in Okinawa. He's a good guy. Annapolis grad, about two years behind you, I think. Blunt, a little goofy, but professional. If there's anything to find, he'll find it."

"Good," Harm said. "But that can't be all that's bothering you."

"You know me too well," Mac said.

"Everyone's telling me that today," Harm said with a soft smile. Mac cocked her head and gave Harm a funny look, but didn't press it. "So, come on, Marine, out with it. What's going on that's put you in the downward spiral to depression?"

"I'm not on a 'downward spiral to depression', as you put it," Mac said. "I'm just not having the best day. Without the witness my client is going to end up in Leavenworth for at least ten years for a crime I honestly don't think he committed. I promised him I would find this guy… and he believed me. I hate breaking promises."

"I know you do," Harm said gently. "I also know that you tried your best to find this illusive witness. I'm sure your client knows that, too."

Mac smiled tightly. "Thanks, Harm."

"Anything else you need to talk about?" Harm asked.

"Not right now," Mac said.

Harm nodded, knowing that she would come to him eventually. "Okay. You're coming to the hospital with the gang tonight, right?" he asked.

"I can't," Mac said only somewhat regretfully. As much as she wanted to see Bud and spend time with her friends, she wanted to see William again.

"Why not?" Harm frowned.

"I've got plans," Mac said lamely, not entirely sure why she couldn't just tell Harm that she had a date and get it over with.

"Plans?"

Mac summoned her courage and said the words. "A… date."

Harm was startled for a moment but, after realizing that his partner was a beautiful woman and that there would be men out there willing to take the risk of going after her, he smiled at her. "Anyone special?" he asked.

"Someone potentially special," Mac said. Harm was pleasantly surprised how not jealous he was. With Dalton Lowne he had all but pulled a Streetcar Named Desire yet now…

Yet now all the rules had changed.

Because now Meg was back.

* * *

**MAC'S APARTMENT**

**1720(EST)**

**GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON DC**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

The last time Mac had been so worried about how she looked was the NATO ball years before, and even then she had been more concerned with getting Bud and Harriet together than with herself.

But in the forty minutes she had after arriving home Mac had tried on at least ten different dresses with different combinations of shoes and jewellery without any joy. Everything she owned was too fancy, not fancy enough, or just not _right_ for what she wanted.

Finally settling on a little black dress and a pair of comfortable sandals with a slight heel—William was only six feet tall, an inch taller than Mac herself, so she didn't feel the need to stuff her feet into some impossibly high heels so that she wouldn't spend the whole night staring up at her date—Mac jumped in the shower, not lingering longer than it took to wash her hair and body and to shave her legs—not that she had such high hopes for the evening, the dress was just a little on the short side. She had her hair and make-up done by seven, and managed to get her dress on without any transference, which pleased Mac immensely.

At quarter after seven the security buzzer rang.

"Damn it, Marine, you shouldn't have planned for Harm's tardiness," Mac chastised herself as she tried to buckle one shoe while walking over to the phone. "Hello?" she said, pressing the correct button while still trying to get her shoe to cooperate.

"It's me," William said.

"Come on up," Mac replied before buzzing him in. She checked her hair once more—she'd pulled the front part back and clipped it away from her face in a style that made her look younger and kept her long bangs from covering her eyes—and then opened the door just as William got to the landing in front of her apartment.

They smiled at each other for a moment before he handed her a small bouquet of wildflowers. "These are for you… I raided my neighbour's flower box," he said.

Mac wasn't sure if he was being serious or not, but decided that the gesture was sweet regardless and her smile widened. "Come in. I'll put these in some water," Mac said, feeling like she was back in high school and was going on a date with the quarterback. Only she didn't plan on getting drunk and fooling around in the back seat of his mother's car until the cops came and told them to go home.

If there was going to be any fooling around it would be with her stone sober and the location would definitely be somewhere more comfortable, Mac couldn't help but think with a slightly evil grin that she hid by burying her face in the flowers that reminded her of the garden her Uncle Matt had put in at his house that he'd lived in after she had finished drying out. Her first real home.

"Nice place," William commented as Mac searched for the crystal vase she'd inherited from her maternal grandmother years before. "The bones are kinda creepy, but, hey, some people have dogs, you have a sand pit."

"I have a dog," Mac said. "Jingo. My neighbour's walking him right now. And it's not a sand pit," she added defensively. Not many people understood how archaeology was her calming action. Harm had flying, Harriet had her collection of romance novels, Chegwidden had running, Bud had his alien-hunter friends on the Net, Jen had mediation, Chloe had dancing wildly to crazy music, and Mac looked to the past for answers to the present. "Uncle Matt gave it to me. I've always loved archaeology."

"How is your uncle?" William asked, hoping he hadn't already ruined the evening.

"He's… in Leavenworth for stealing the Declaration of Independence," Mac said. William quirked and eyebrow at her. "It's a long story," she said as she adjusted the flowers in the vase somewhat neurotically.

"Okay, I'm 0-for-2," William said awkwardly.

Mac smiled and shook her head. "No, it's just… I'm a little nervous. I haven't… gone on a date in a long time… and my last boyfriend… it didn't end well…" she said, thinking briefly about how her relationship with Dalton had ended and then, not long after, had gotten him killed. "I guess I'm a little gun-shy," Mac admitted.

William breathed a sigh of relief. "Me too. Mare's been trying to get me to go out more since we got partnered up but ever since my last break up I haven't been eager to put myself out there."

"Well, for our own mental health, why don't we agree to go slowly," Mac said diplomatically. "We've both been burned and it's obvious that some wounds are still a little tender, so, in the interest of our sanity and emotions, why don't we tread lightly… not jump into anything."

"Sounds like a sound plan, councillor," William smiled.

"Good, now let's get to the restaurant," Mac said as she grabbed her coat and purse that contained her wallet and her pager. Her cell phone was left beside her bed, turned off, where it couldn't bother anyone. "I'm starving."

William flashed her a dimpled smile and put his hand on the small of her back as they left her apartment, pausing only to lock up before heading straight out to his fleet sedan that was parked in front of the black iron gate.

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT**

**2100 (EST)**

**NORTH OF UNION STATION**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Harm tossed his keys onto the top of the bookcase by the door and reached out for a light switch. It had been, if nothing else, a _long_ day.

After getting his six chewed out—even though he hadn't even been in the country when the case came up—by half of the Senate for letting a known killer walk because of a technicality, Harm had had his chat with Mac that had ended on what he felt was not the best note. But, knowing Mac as well as he did, he didn't press her because that would just make her put up her walls of defence that were made up of about eighteen feet thick and a thousand miles high with about twelve years of being a Marine and a lifetime of shitty relationships with men.

There were a lot of things that Harm was willing to do. Becoming another man who had betrayed and mistreated Sarah MacKenzie was not one of them.

After his talk with Mac, Harm had been forced to endure yet more calls from the Navy's higher ups about things he hadn't been briefed on by the Admiral before he left for San Diego. Sounding like an idiot was not something that Harm enjoyed.

Finally Harm had managed to escape, and he drove out to Bethesda to meet up with everyone else from JAG.

* * *

**BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL**

**INTENSIVE CARE UNIT**

**1900 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Wearing a uniform around Navy personnel was a risky proposition when you weren't in the mood to stand on ceremony. Harm's father had told him that when he was only four years old, and that had never failed to ring true. Sure, being a Commander in the Navy had perks, especially when you wanted to find out something about someone, but sometimes Harm just wanted to be a civilian who didn't need to salute at a quarter of the people he passed on his way to the bedside of one of his best friends.

Meg, Harm noticed, hadn't changed out of her uniform before heading out to Maryland. Neither had several Petty Officers. Jennifer was in jeans and a tee shirt, and Tiner was in the same with a black leather jacket on top. Jennifer was holding little AJ who was wrapped up in a blanket that Harm was pretty sure had been sent from his own mother in La Jolla upon the birth of AJ Roberts. It was sky blue with several yellow biplanes on it.

"Sir," Jennifer said, trying to stand at attention without jostling the infant.

Harm shot Jennifer a glare that told her not to try anything like that again, and her posture returned to normal.

"Where's Harriet?" Harm asked after dropping a kiss on the top of his godson's downy head.

"Cafeteria," Meg said softly.

"Mikey took her down to get something to eat," Jennifer put in. "She said that she knew you would be here soon and she was hoping that you wouldn't come bearing your meatless meatloaf."

"Okay, that's not fair, she's never tried it," Harm complained. Mac was spreading vicious rumours again.

"I have, and I agree with all the rumours," Meg put in.

"Thanks for the help," Harm said with an eye roll.

"Anytime," Meg grinned.

Harm glanced at the door that had no window, and then he looked back at his friends and coworkers. "How is he?" he asked soberly.

"The same," Tiner said. "The hospital is only allowing one or two people at a time for a few minutes every hour."

"If he doesn't wake up by morning they're going to move him to a private room where the only limitations will be visiting hours," Jennifer added, knowing that that would be Harm's next question. Harm smiled briefly at her in thanks for her almost empathic abilities.

First Jennifer's then Tiner's pagers went off, waking the baby and causing several doctors and nurses to check their own pagers before relaxing with the knowledge that their patients were all the same as they had been the minute before.

"It's the Admiral," Tiner said as Jennifer handed little AJ off to Meg who cradled the babe in her arms and cooed softly at him until his gut-wrenching screams became soft sniffles as he headed back off to dreamland.

Jennifer checked her own pager. "What does he want that can't wait for morning?" she asked before remembering she was around superior officers. "Sorry sir, ma'am," she said to Harm and Meg.

"I didn't hear anything, did you, Harm?" Meg asked innocently.

"Not a thing," Harm agreed. "But if he has to page you again and the littlest Roberts wakes up again I'm pretty sure my momentary deafness will wear off."

Snapping off a quick salute, Tiner and Jennifer headed for a bank of pay phones at the other end of the hall.

"You can go in, sir," Meg said, nodding toward the door. "I'll stay here and wait for the lieutenant to come back."

"I'll wait with you, and cut the 'sir' nonsense," Harm said.

Meg smiled up at him. "Yes sir," she said, chock full of wilful disobedience.

"Cute," Harm said sarcastically.

"I try," Meg shrugged.

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT**

**2110 (EST)**

**NORTH OF UNION STATION**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

"You know, you don't have to do this. I'm fine bunking on a pile of blankets back at my place," Meg said as she watched Harm shed his coat and hang it up with his cover.

"No way," Harm said adamantly. "You can take the bed, I'll take the couch."

"The least I can do is take the couch if I'm going to be staying here," Meg insisted. "You're too tall to sleep comfortably on that thing, anyway," she pointed out before Harm could argue with her.

"Fine. Everything is pretty much in the same place as when you were here last, only more finished," Harm said. "I'm going to run out and get some food for the morning. Make yourself at home," he said as he grabbed some jeans and a tee shirt on his way to the bathroom to change before going out. His need to be a normal guy for a little while was overwhelming, and grocery shopping was something that calmed him, thinking about how much of something he would need for a meal he had planned, searching to find the right brand before dropping the item into his cart, watching other normal people do the same thing he was. Grocery shopping was something that Harm did well, and it was a nice normal thing that he could do every day if he had to in order to stay sane when his hectic life threw him a curveball.

"Make sure you buy something that used to be alive," Meg said as she remembered Harm's mainly vegetable-filled diet.

"Carnivore," Harm said with a scrunched up nose as he stuffed his feet into a worn pair of running shoes.

"Omnivore, actually. I eat more than just meat," Meg corrected.

You caught me on a technicality," Harm admitted. "See you in a few," he added as he grabbed his coat and keys and headed out the door.

Meg put her purse, garment bag,and briefcase down by the door and hung her cover up with Harm's, smiling briefly at the tiny domestic thrill she got at coming home with Harm and getting ready to take a shower while he went grocery shopping—something she hated doing.

Twenty minutes and half a hot water tank later, Meg stood in Harm's bedroom wrapped up in a large fluffy white towel, trying to decide if she should get back into her uniform or if she should take the chance and pilfer something of Harm's for the night. She had a spare uniform in her garment bag, but she didn't relish the idea of sleeping in the constrictive skirt and blouse.

After drying off and slipping back into her bra and panties, Meg went in search of a pair of sweats and a tee shirt that she could sleep in. The last time she had been at Harm's apartment he had been using a hair-brained system of aging cardboard boxes and clothes piled haphazardly over every surface. Now everything was in drawers or hanging up, seemingly organized.

After realizing that, being almost six inches taller than her, Harm's pants would not fit her without making her look like she was a six year old dressing up in her father's clothes, Meg decided to take a chance and steal a pair of Harm's boxers to go with the NAVY tee shirt she had donned.

Being wrapped up in Harm's clothing was almost as good as being wrapped up in his arms, and Meg soon found herself curled up on the couch, sleep coming on fast.

* * *

**BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL**

**INTENSIVE CARE UNIT**

**1941 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Meg, who had been half-watching Jennifer and Tiner who were still on the phone with the Admiral, saw Harriet and Mikey Roberts before Harm did, and she offered the lieutenant a small smile that, surprisingly, Harriet returned.

"Feeling better?" Meg asked, her voice full of concern for the woman she had only met less than an hour before when she arrived at the hospital with Mic Brumby, who had since left her stranded in Maryland.

"Much. Thank you for reminding me that the Commander was coming," Harriet said as Meg gently passed little AJ back to his mother. "You're worse than my mother, sometimes, sir," she added to Harm.

"Knowing how you feel about your mother, Harriet, I'm going to choose to be insulted," Harm said. He knew Harriet loved her parents but the Navy lieutenant had fought for most of her life to get away from her parent's lives. And she had fought especially hard against her mother, particularly on the topics of joining the Navy and marrying Bud, despite the fact that he was a lawyer—one of the top three clichéd dream son-in-law occupations.

"I just meant that you're always after me to eat and sleep," Harriet said awkwardly.

"I wouldn't if you would remember to do those things on your own," Harm pointed out. "Just remember that Bud's gonna need you to be strong for him when he wakes up, and until then you've still got this little guy to take care of," he added, giving AJ, who was now fully awake and loving the fact that he was back in his mother's arms, his finger to play with.

"Understood, sir," Harriet nodded. "Besides, I think you've got this one properly brainwashed," she said, indicating Mikey. "Since school let out for the summer he's going to be helping Coates and Tiner with little AJ."

Harm shot Mikey a look that said 'and her, too' and he nodded behind Harriet's back.

Feeling more than a little relieved that Harriet would be under the watchful eye of Mikey Roberts, Harm extricated his finger from his godson's surprisingly firm grip before it ended up in the baby's mouth. He loved AJ and could deal with the messes babies made, but he was still a bachelor at heart and baby slobber was not high on his list of substances to be explored in the near future.

"Where's the Colonel tonight?" Harriet asked.

"She has a date," Harm said.

Harriet frowned. "Are you alright with that, sir?" she asked, her voice full of concern for her friend.

"I'm fine, Harriet," Harm said. Truth be told he was more worried about what Meg would think about everyone's assumptions about him and Mac than he was about Mac going on a date. "We're just friends. She said that this guy could potentially be someone special and I'm happy for her."

He was pretty sure that Harriet didn't believe him, but it didn't matter what she thought.

As he was coming to realize more and more every minute, Meg was who mattered.

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT**

**2200 (EST)**

**NORTH OF UNION STATION**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 19**

Since he couldn't hear any sounds coming from inside the apartment, Harm kept quiet until he knew if Meg was still awake or not. He managed to get through the door without dropping any of the bags he held, something he was mildly proud of, but the sight that was in front of him once he got inside almost made him drop everything.

Literally.

Meg was curled up on the couch, her blonde hair wet from the shower, wearing one of his old tee shirts and a pair of his boxers, her long tanned legs curled up close to her body. Harm wanted to protect her and ravish her all at once.

After putting the groceries away quickly, not bothering to take anything out of the plastic bag it had come home in, Harm found a soft blanket his Grandma Sarah had give him for Christmas and he gently lay it over Meg. He took the spare pillow off the bed and managed to slip it under Meg's head, smiling when she rooted into the comfortable down pillow like a child into a beloved teddy bear.

Brushing a lock of hair back off her forehead, Harm smiled at the vision before him.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered before dropping a barely-there kiss across her forehead. He lingered for a moment and then headed off to get some sleep as well.

* * *

_I know some of you are concerned with Mac and William movig so fast, and, yeah, maybe they are. But there is a reason for that, and I'll explore that in upcoming chapters._

_M_


	6. Chapter Six

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us>  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE:_

_-A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details._

_DEDICATION: To Tracey, for bringing the character of Meg Austin to life, and to all the Harm/Meg shippers out there._

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT **

**0558 (EST) **

**NORTH OF UNION STATION **

**THURSDAY, JULY 20 **

Meg was just waking up when Harm returned from his morning run. "Morning, sleepyhead," he teased as he headed to the kitchen for a bottle of water.

"Stop that, you know I hate you after you've gone running," Meg scowled, pushing the blanket off her body and standing up to stretch. He never would have suspected it from her usually sunny disposition, but he'd learned early on in their partnership that Meg was not a morning person.

That had obviously not changed.

"Coffee?" Harm offered, knowing that the only way to soothe the savage beast that was early-morning-Meg was through a caffeine IV.

"It'd better be strong," Meg said as she took the proffered mug.

"Strong enough for the Marines," Harm said. He couldn't remember when he'd started making his coffee to Mac's usual strength, but over time he'd gotten addicted to her super-leaded coffee in the office, and at home. Meg took a slow sip and moaned in pleasure as the dark liquid went down her throat and started hitting her system. "You enjoy that coffee in all yourorgasmic pleasure, I'm gonna take a shower," Harm said with a wry smile before heading toward the bathroom.

Meg had just finished her second cup when the shower shut off. To lower the temptation to take advantage of the lack of actual walls in the loft, Meg buried her head in the fridge until Harm was finished dressing. "Shower's free," Harm said as he came down the steps dressed in a fresh set of summer whites.

"Thanks," Meg replied, grabbing an apple to use as an excuse for being in the fridge. "You leave me any hot water?" she asked as she cleaned off the red fruit.

"Enough," Harm said as he headed for the fridge himself. "Want a big breakfast or are you good with the apple?"

Meg considered the apple for a second before throwing it back to Harm. "Big breakfast, please," Meg said, grabbing her bag that contained her extra uniform before heading to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.

Harm smiled and started getting out the ingredients for his whole wheat pancakes. As he was mixing everything together the phone rang. "Rabb," he said, positioning the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he started pouring the batter onto the hot skillet.

"Hey, flyboy," Mac said.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Mac very rarely called him so early in the morning, and when she did it was rarely with good news.

"Nothing, I promise," Mac assured him. "I just wanted to know how Bud was last night. I feel really guilty for not going to the hospital… I shouldn't have gone out last night," she said softly.

Harm breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that Mac was calling _with_ bad news about Bud, but she was just calling to _get_ bad news about Bud. "He's the same as before. They're moving him to a private room today, which means that we'll be able to visit for longer periods since he won't be in the ICU anymore," Harm said.

"How's Harriet?" Mac asked.

"She's holding together pretty well," Harm said honestly. "Mikey Roberts is back in town and he's gonna be helping out with little AJ so that Harriet doesn't have to worry about him as much. He's also going to make sure that Harriet gets some sleep and at least two good meals a day."

"Why only two?" Mac asked.

"She never was a big breakfast person, you know that," Harm said.

"Right," Mac said. Harm could see her dragging her fingers through her hair in frustration in his mind's eye.

"God, Harm, what kind of a person am I?" Mac asked. He was pretty sure he could hear tears in her voice. "My best friends needed me and I went on a date… I feel like a horrible person."

Harm turned down the burner and then said, "Mac, Harriet was overwhelmed with people last night. Jen and Tiner and Mikey and little AJ and Meg and Brumby and me… I think that if there had been anyone else there she would have gone insane trying to act like she thinks everything will be okay. All of us going to visit was a good idea in theory, but I don't know if it was such a good plan in reality."

"I still should have been there," Mac said softly.

"Maybe," Harm said. "But it's not like Harriet was alone or that she felt abandoned."

"I know, but she's my best female friend, Harm. Honestly she's the first real female friend I've ever had. I should have been there for her," Mac said.

Harm rubbed his eyes, praying that he wouldn't regret what he was about to do, and then said, "Take the morning and go to the hospital, Mac. Harriet will probably be there already. Spend some time with her and Bud. Call me at lunch and let me know if you want the rest of the day off."

"You're sure?" Mac asked.

"Positive. We can deal without you for a while. Just promise me you'll try to get Harriet to leave the hospital for a little while. Take her out to lunch or something," Harm said.

"Deal," Mac said.

"Good," Harm said. "So, how did the date go?" he asked.

"It went well," Mac said. "We talked a lot… had an amazing steak dinner… talked some more… and the he drove me home."

"You going to see him again?" Harm asked.

"I hope so," Mac said.

"You sound happy," Harm said with a smile as he went back to tending to the breakfast before it burnt.

"I am," Mac said.

Harm grinned. "Good. I'm glad," he said honestly.

"Me too," Mac agreed.

"So," Harm said, flipping the pancakes as he heard the shower turn off, "you think you'll be able to join us all for dinner tonight?"

"What's the occasion?" Mac asked.

"None to speak of," Harm admitted. "I just… think we should all get together. I talked to Harriet about it last night and she's promised to come, which is good, and Jen and Tiner are signed up. Brumby begged out, so there's no worries about him lurking around."

"You invited Brumby?" Mac asked incredulously.

"Not willingly, but yes. The guy's an ass, but Harriet and Bud seem to think he's not completely horrible so I'm trying to make a bit of an effort, especially if he's going to be staying longer than the exchange program lasts," Harm said. "Anyway, I promise there won't be any meatless meatloaf and that there will be some kind of meat involved in the meal, though I'm not sure what quite yet. You in?"

"Definitely," Mac said.

"Good. My place, 1900, no uniforms," Harm said.

"Got it," Mac said.

Harm hesitated for a second before adding, "You're welcome to invite _whatshisname_, if you want." He did need to check the guy out, make sure that he was good enough for Mac, and the idea of home court advantage was more than a little appealing. Not to mention that the rest of the group would want to check out Mac's new sweetie as well.

"His name is William, and I don't think it's the right time to introduce him to the family," Mac said honestly. "We've only been on one real date and I know you are going to go into interrogation-mode. I don't want you to scare him off. I should be allowed to do that on my own."

"Alright, but I want to meet this guy soon," Harm said.

"If it becomes anything you'll be the first to know," Mac promised.

"Good," Harm said. The shower was still running, and he could hear Meg singing softly over the pounding spray, making a smile spread over his lips. He doubted Meg even knew that he could hear her.

"Um… thanks, Harm," Mac said, bringing Harm's attention back to their conversation and away from the beautiful woman who was singing in his shower.

"For what?" Harm asked.

"For not automatically assigning William a spot in front of the firing squad," Mac said.

"Would I do that?" Harm asked innocently.

"In a heartbeat," Mac said. "I should let you go… you're not in the shower now, are you?" she asked, finally hearing the running water.

"No, I'm cooking breakfast," Harm said.

"Then what's with the running water?" Mac asked.

"Meg stayed over last night. She's taking a shower," Harm said.

"Oh really?" Mac asked, her voice laden with innuendo.

Harm rolled his eyes. "It was totally innocent. Her place is empty until her stuff comes this weekend and we were both exhausted after coming back from the hospital," Harm said.

"What were the sleeping arrangements?" Mac asked as if she were interrogating someone on fraternization charges.

"She slept on the couch. I was in my bed."

"You didn't even offer to take the couch?" Mac asked. Every time she had crashed at his place he had insisted that she take the bed.

"I went to the store and by the time I got back Meg was asleep on the couch. I didn't have the heart to move her," Harm said honestly.

"Whatever you say," Mac said. "I should let you get ready for work."

They said a quick goodbye and then Harm hung up and went back to concentrating on the stove. The shower shut off and he forced himself to refrain from looking in the direction of his bedroom where he knew Meg would be getting dressed.

"Harm?" Meg asked, coming out and standing at the top of the steps wearing only a small towel around her body.

"Hmm?" Harm said before turning around and realizing that Meg wasn't wearing much of anything.

"Do you have a blow dryer?" Meg asked, amused by the look of shock that Harm was wearing.

"What?" Harm asked, shaking away the thoughts that had strayed toward the carnal and focusing on what Meg was asking him.

"Blow dryer," Meg said slowly. "Do you have one?"

Harm thought for a second then cringed slightly and said, "Sorry."

"This place is really not suitable for female inhabitants," Meg said as she headed back into the bedroom to see what she could do with her hair without a blow dryer and her usual line up of styling products.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS **

**0845 (EST) **

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA **

**THURSDAY, JULY 20 **

After the handing out of assignments and getting updates in the morning meeting, Meg watched Harm retreat into his office with Coates hot on his heels with a stack of messages that needed to be taken care of ASAP. Harm had reluctantly assigned her an investigation, seeing as the FBI was taking care of the Annapolis shooting and they couldn't risk interfering with their work. It wasn't like Harm to give up, especially when people he loved were involved, so Meg was trying to figure out what had happened to make Harm back down on the investigation that the Admiral had wanted her to deal with.

"Commander Austin?" Mic said, waving his hand in front of Meg's face when he couldn't get her attention.

"What?" Meg frowned. "Sorry," she blushed, realizing she had been caught staring off into space. Or, more accurately, into the bit of space that she had last seen Harm in before his office door closed. "What's up?" she asked as she habitually straightened the stack of files that was sitting in front of her.

"The investigation. Are you ready to leave for Norfolk or do you need more time before we head out?" Mic asked.

Meg mentally ran through the list she had made earlier and checked everything off. "I'm ready to go. Just let me grab my coat," she said, rising and heading to the coat rack. It felt strange being in Harm's office. It wasn't the same one she had once shared with him, yet it felt almost exactly the same. Harm's presence made the cool Plexiglas walls and drab white paint warm and welcoming.

Files in hand, Meg followed Mic out of the office and down to the fleet sedan they had requisitioned for the day.

"You know the route?" Mic asked as the approached the car.

"Been down it more than once," Meg nodded. She didn't see any reason to add that she had never driven it herself because Harm would never let anyone else drive his precious 'Vette and there was no way he was going to drive a fleet car more than he had to.

"Good. You drive," Mic said, tossing Meg the keys. Meg caught them instinctively and moved around to the driver's side door. "Nice catch," Mic commented as they got into the sedan.

"What, for a girl?" Meg asked pointedly.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun," Mic muttered as he took the stack of files Meg was holding out for him.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS **

**0850 (EST) **

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA **

**THURSDAY, JULY 20 **

Harm was just draining his third cup of coffee when Coates finished going through the stack of messages waiting for the acting JAG. "Can I get you anything, Commander?" Coates asked.

After rubbing his eyes Harm motioned for Jennifer to sit down. "Tell me the truth, Jen. Is it always this insane or does the Admiral wait for just the right moment before he leaves me in charge?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Jennifer asked.

"I wasn't asking as the acting JAG, Jen," Harm said with a hint of a smile breaking through the stress of the job that had already weighed him down like cement shoes.

"It's not usually this bad, but I highly doubt the Admiral is conspiring against you, sir," Coates smiled. "This retreat has been planned for months and as far as I know the Admiral had always planned on putting you in charge in his stead, sir. He wants you to become the JAG when he retires which, if I'm reading him right, might happen anytime in the next few years."

Though Harm was touched that his mentor thought so highly of him, the thought of being JAG and dealing with what he was just getting a taste of day in and day out was more than a little terrifying.

"Anyway, you have a lot of issues to deal with," Jennifer said, pushing the stack of pink papers closer to Harm, "and I should get back to my desk, so if there isn't anything else…"

"Yeah, just one more thing," Harm said. "What did the Admiral want from you and Tiner last night? You both left without saying anything."

Jennifer bit her lip. She wasn't sure how much she should divulge. "I'm afraid I can't tell you, sir," she said reluctantly. "At least, not right now. The Admiral was pretty insistent about keeping this a secret for the time being."

Not feeling any better about the mysterious mission that Chegwidden had put Coates and Tiner on without his knowledge, Harm dismissed Jennifer and reluctantly started working his way through the messages he needed to return.

* * *

_That's all for now. Let me know what you think._

_Oh, and I won't actually be able to watch the finale tomorrow 'cause I got tickets to see U2 and, well, I couldn't pass the chance up to see Bono live, so please don't spoil any of it for me in yourreviews. I plan on watching the tape of theJAG finale onSaturday._

_M_


	7. Chapter Seven

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE:_

_-A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details._

_DEDICATION: To my readers. I'm writing this for you._

* * *

**BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL**

**ROOM 107**

**1000 (EST)**

**THURSDAY, JULY 20**

The steady beeping of the heart monitor was both keeping Harriet tethered to sanity and working on her last nerve at the same time. She had been at the hospital since visiting hours started and hadn't moved an inch since she sat down in a chair beside her husband's bed and clasped her hands around his. The doctor and some nurses had checked on him a little while earlier but they hadn't made her move. She knew that they would later when they checked drainage and feeding tubes as well as the surgical incisions, but they weren't due to check all that for at least another hour. Mikey would be coming by around then to make sure she ate something, and to let little AJ spend some time with his mommy. Her breasts were heavy and aching, and Harriet knew she needed to pump, but she felt she could wait until AJ got there and let him have a meal straight from the source instead of giving him another bottle.

When the door opened Harriet expected it to be a nurse checking the machines again or maybe Mikey with little AJ, but when she saw Mac standing in the doorway she was both surprised and relieved.

"How is he?" Mac asked softly.

"The same," Harriet replied. "He's being stubborn again. He hates waking up in the morning… I don't know why I expected him to jump right out of the hospital bed the moment he got out of surgery."

Mac smiled slightly as she moved to sit down next to Harriet.

"Playing hooky?" Harriet asked.

"Harm gave me the morning off. He knew I… that I want to apologize for last night," Mac said. "I don't know what I was thinking, going out when you and Bud needed your friends with you."

"The Commander said you had a date," Harriet said.

"I did," Mac nodded.

"Who with?" Harriet asked. Mac hesitated and Harriet sat up straighter and turned her focus to her friend. "Come on, ma'am. I'm going crazy just sitting here waiting for Bud to wake up."

"You're sure?" Mac asked, still hesitant.

"When have I ever not wanted to hear gossip?" Harriet asked pointedly.

Mac laughed at that, the sound feeling foreign in the sterile hospital room. Harriet smiled, feeling a little better already.

"Alright," Mac said. "His name is William and we've known each other for years. We haven't seen each other in a long time, but we met up a few days ago and… I don't know how to explain it. There was always an attraction between us… and when I saw him again… I don't know. It was like a light flipped on inside me. I've never felt this way about anyone before."

"That sounds like how I felt when I first met Bud. It was like all the air rushed out of the room—which is ironic 'cause we met on a carrier deck," Harriet said with a warm smile. Mac smiled, too, remembering that day very well. Her first trip to the Seahawk. "Where did you two meet?"

"We were stationed together in Okinawa when we first met," Mac said. It was my first assignment and I was so desperate to prove to myself and everyone else that I was just as good as any man. About two months into my assignment there the group I had started sort of hanging out with had a weekend liberty and the highest ranking officer decided that we all needed to watch a baseball game. Naturally that meant sports bar. About halfway through the evening one of the guys noticed I wasn't drinking anything but tonic water and he started going on about how the little woman couldn't hold her alcohol. I denied that without thinking and the next thing I know he's calling for shots of tequila. I knew I could drink the jerk under the table but I'd worked so hard to get sober and there was no way I was throwing away five years of sobriety because some guy was treating me like I should be home baking a pie or something. I told the guy that I didn't drink and he somehow took that to be an insult. The next thing I know a waitress is coming over and telling me I have a phone call. Uncle Matt was the only person who knew where I was, and I couldn't figure out how he knew I would be at the bar, but I was just so grateful that I had an out. Admitting I was an alcoholic was not something I was really eager to do, especially when I was already seen as weak because I was a woman. It turned out that there was no call but that Will had seen me floundering and had offered me an escape route if I wanted it. He wasn't all 'knight in shining armour' and he wasn't expecting to get anything in return. We hadn't even spoken to each other before that moment. We left the bar and went to a fast food joint and had cheap burgers and he asked if there was a reason I was acting like a scared rabbit back in the bar and… I don't know why I told him about my tenuous recovery, but I did, and he didn't judge me, he didn't get that look on his face that's somewhere between discomfort and thinly veiled disgust. He just accepted it as a part of me and moved on."

"Sounds like a good guy," Harriet said.

"He is," Mac said with a happy smile. "And I'm sure he's a good guy, through and through. I know my taste in men has been somewhat…"

"Crappy?" Harriet supplied.

Normally it would have shocked her to hear Harriet swear, but, after watching her give birth to little AJ, nothing that came out of the blonde's mouth was all that shocking.

"To say the least," Mac said. "And I know I'm probably getting way ahead of myself, but I have to say that… something about being with him just feels… right."

Harriet grinned.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**1035 (EST)**

**TUESDAY, JULY 20**

With Mac taking the morning off and Mic and Meg on assignment, Harm was left with no senior attorneys and a stack of investigations that were pending that reached from the sole of his shoes to just below his kneecaps.

He knew.

He'd checked.

Hitting the intercom button—that Jen had showed him how to use after he'd just yelled for her a few times—Harm asked Jen to get some field offices on the phone to see if any of them could pick up the slack. They were working without Bud, and Harriet, and Harm, as he was currently riding a mahogany desk and getting hand cramps from all the paperwork, and without Bud on top of the fact that Mac, Meg, and Brumby were all out of the office there were no lawyers on site who could take the backlog of cases that had somehow appeared over the past ten hours. There were some junior lawyers who Harm could give some higher profile cases to if necessary, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to do that just yet.

"Sir, I'll make the calls, but I doubt we'll have much luck," Jen said honestly.

"Alright. When you get a chance call Tiner in to help me sort these into priority stacks. Maybe some semblance of a system will help," Harm said. He was getting desperate. "And call the Admiral and find out when he's planning on returning to us. I know he hates these convention things and we're drowning without the staff right now."

"Aye aye, sir," Coates said before hanging up.

Harm sighed heavily and went back to trying to work his way through the seemingly endless backlog.

* * *

**BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL**

**ROOM 107**

**1100 (EST)**

**THURSDAY, JULY 20**

Mikey had come by just before eleven with little AJ whose eyes had lit up when he saw his mommy. Harriet had taken the little boy immediately and had headed off to the bathroom to feed him, leaving Mac with Mikey and Bud.

"How is he, really, ma'am?" Mikey asked nervously.

"The doctors say they won't really know for sure until he wakes up," Mac said honestly. "But Bud's a fighter. And he's got so much to fight for."

"Plus Harriet would kill him if he died on her," Mikey said before realizing how odd and wrong it sounded. "I didn't… well, you know what I mean."

"I do," Mac nodded, a slight smile spreading across her lips to cover how shaken the thought of Bud dying had her.

Harriet returned a little while later with a thoroughly happy baby who had been fed and changed and was well on his way to falling asleep in his mother's arms. Not even the strange and unfamiliar surroundings and the beeping machines had upset him.

"He's such a little angel," Harriet said as he cradled her son.

"You definitely got lucky with this little guy," Mac agreed.

"So far, at least," Harriet said. "Who knows what he's going to be like when he gets older. I could be holding a teen terror and not even know it."

Mac smiled softly. "Well the good news is that you have a long time before you find out whether or not you have a terror on your hands," she said. "The bad news is that if you do there's not much to be done."

"Thank, ma'am, that's real reassuring," Harriet said sarcastically.

"Sorry," Mac said, though she wasn't. Not really. Because for that minute Harriet hadn't thought about losing Bud once. And Mac was a firm believer in the power of positive thinking.She noticed the doctor heading their way and realized it was time to get Harriet out of the hospital for a little while. "Harriet, Mikey and I were just talking about getting an early lunch. Why don't you join us?" she said. Mikey, who had been facing the door as well, quickly caught on and didn't contradict the tiny white lie.

"I don't want to leave Bud," Harriet said hesitantly.

"The doctors have your cell number and you need to eat, anyway, right?" Mac said.

"I'm under orders from the Commander to make sure she does," Mikey put in.

"See," Mac said energetically, "you wouldn't want to make Mikey brought up on charges for dereliction of duty, would you?"

Harriet frowned. "The Commander can't do that, ma'am. Mikey isn't even old enough for ROTC."

Mac shot Harriet a look. "Harriet, when are you going to learn that Harm can do pretty much anything once he sets his mind to it?" she asked. "Now come on. We'll all go out for lunch and after that you can come right back here if that's what you want. I'm starving and there's a great place just down the street."

Under the combined looks she was receiving from Mac and Mikey, as well as the knowledge that Bud wouldn't want her sitting around the hospital and living off of the occasional sandwich from the cafeteria, Harriet caved in. She settled AJ down in his stroller and made sure he was secure and wrapped up in his favourite blanket and then she leaned over and kissed Bud's forehead and whispered an 'I love you' to her husband whose only response was the rise and fall of his chest as the ventilator pushed fresh oxygen into his body and took out the refuse. But it was enough and Harriet moved away, putting her hands on the stroller and following Mikey out of the room as the doctor and a pair of nurses waited outside.

"Thank you," the doctor said to Mac who had lingered for a moment. "It's been almost impossible to get her to leave when visiting hours are over, let alone in the middle of the day."

"If you have any problems with her, just call Admiral Chegwidden," Mac said, scribbling down the Admiral's contact information. She had a feeling she would pay for it later if he was contacted, but Mac was almost positive that even a direct order from her CO would be difficult to follow until Bud himself woke up and told Harriet to go home.

The doctor smiled at Mac and then headed into the room and Mac hurried down the hall to catch up with the three Roberts' at the elevators.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**1155 (EST)**

**TUESDAY, JULY 20**

A call of 'enter' was the response Jennifer got to her knock on what was currently Harm's door. She opened the door and slipped through, biting her lip to fight off the laugh that was trying to get out when she saw both Harm and Tiner kneeling on the floor shifting files around into different piles.

"Are you amused, Petty Officer?" Harm inquired, hoping he didn't sound as frustrated as he felt. It wasn't Jennifer's fault that there was a sudden influx of cases, and it definitely wasn't her fault that they were short staffed.

"Highly," Jen said candidly. Harm flashed her a grin and then motioned for her to get to the reason she was there. "I spoke to all the other offices and they're all pretty bogged down, too, sir. There are two senior staff lawyers on their way TAD to assist here until we get things back to a more standard state of chaos, and the research assistants and other clericals are being pulled in from other assignments. It seems the SecNav is feeling… generous."

"I don't think I've ever heard that word associated with the Secretary, but go on," Harm said. Tiner smirked but didn't say anything.

"The law staff will be here at 0900 tomorrow and the clericals will be arriving at staggered times throughout tomorrow and the next day, sir," Coates said. "I also spoke with the Admiral and he said that he won't be able to come back before the conference ends unless you feel that you can't handle the job he has given you."

"He didn't say that," Harm said.

"I swear that he did, sir," Jen said earnestly. "Also, Colonel MacKenzie called and said that she should be back in the office by 1300. She and Mikey Roberts took Lieutenant Simms out for lunch and the Colonel is going to drop Harriet and Mikey off at home with the baby before she comes back to the office. I don't know how the Colonel managed to convince the Lieutenant to spend the afternoon at home with little AJ, but I have to admit that I'm glad she found a way."

Harm smiled. "Mac usually does," he said. "Anything else?"

"Just that Commanders Brumby and Austin checked in about five minutes ago. They're in Norfolk and are confident that they will be able to get the investigation wrapped up by Thursday, assuming they can get started on the interviews today," Jen said.

"They made good time," Harm commented.

Jen smiled. "Commander Brumby said that you would comment on that and he also said to tell you that Commander Austin drove, sir. Apparently he feels you know what that means."

"Meg has a… certain disregard for the posted speed limit," Harm said with a small smile. Going fast was never an issue for him, especially since he spent a great deal of his time in moving vehicles either pulling major G's or cruising around in his 'Vette, but even he had some problems getting in the passenger seat with Meg behind the wheel. "She likes to let the vehicle life up to it's full potential."

"A lead foot, sir?" Jen asked.

"I've gone slower in a Tomcat," Harm hyperbolized.

Jen and Tiner laughed at that, then Jen looked at the still imposing stack of files that needed to be checked through. "Do you need any help, sir? I know I'm not a lawyer or even thinking about studying law, but I've picked up on some things since starting here and I think I can tell the major crimes from the lesser offences."

"That's alright, Coates. Tiner and I have got this pretty much covered," Harm said. "What were the names of the lawyers that are coming our way?"

"A Lieutenant Commander James Stiles and a Major Elliot Carter. Their CO's are faxing over their files as we speak," Jen said.

"Bring them in once they get here. Dismissed" Harm said before picking up another file.

"Aye, sir," Jen said, standing at attention before turning and heading back out to her desk.

* * *

**NORFOLK NAVAL BASE**

**NORFOLK, VIRGINIA**

**1900 (EST)**

**TUESDAY, JULY 20**

It had started to rain a few hours before and the summer storm hadn't let up yet. Meg, who had missed the changing weather patterns of the Eastern seaboard, had been watching the rain pelting down, taking the petals off the already dying tulips that were planted around the guard station. The last piece of colour and cheer before the bullet-proof booth with the armed Marine guards and the battleship grey military base that was one of the most famous in the world.

The parking lot where she had parked the fleet sedan had started out with little rivers forming in the slightly less than level ground, and now there were full-fledged ponds forming and threatening to become lakes. The diner where Harm had once punched out a junior officer who was suspected of murdering the woman he had loved in one way or another since his early twenties was barely visible through the storm, and it was only about two hundred feet from her door. She had considered running out and getting something to eat but before she could even start trying to pull her rain gear from the bottom of the small bag she had packed Commander Brumby had shown up with a couple of bags of food and a six pack of diet cola.

"Why are you just staring off into space?" Mic asked after trying to figure out Meg's actions himself for a few minutes.

"I've missed the weather here," Meg said a little shyly. "And… I was kind of remembering the last time I was here."

"Anything I need to know about?" Mic asked, clearly misinterpreting her wistful tone.

"Commander Rabb and I were investigating the murder of a Lieutenant aboard the _Seahawk_. The case was never solved in our opinions, but everyone else seemed to feel that there was nothing more to investigate. The Commander and I were going to look into it a little further… but I got transferred out before we could do anything," Meg said. There was no reason for Mic to hear about Diane. "You don't have anything to worry about, though. My mind is completely on the investigation at hand."

Mic nodded. "And on that note, I'll be off," he said, gathering up the trash from the meal. "First interview in the morning is at 0700."

"I know," Meg said, slightly annoyed that he didn't seem to believe that her head really was in the game. "See you in the morning," she said, letting him out and locking the door tightly before heading for the bathroom to take a shower before bed. Meg knew it was futile, but she felt the need to wash the day away.

* * *

**ROBERTS' RESIDENCE**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**0241 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Harriet had just settled AJ down after his two-o'clock feeding when the phone rang.

Because she was racing to grab the handset before it woke the baby back up, Harriet didn't have time to worry about what a call at twenty to three in the morning could mean.

"Roberts residence," Harriet said, thankful that there were no sounds coming from the nursery.

"Mrs Roberts, this is Dr. Lowry, the attending on duty at Bethesda Naval Hospital tonight," the male voice on the other end of the line said. "Ma'am, you might want to sit down," he said gently.

* * *

_You can't hear it, but I'm doing an evil laugh right now._

_There's going to be more about Mac and William's past in upcoming chapters, but I thought maybe one story would help people realize that he's a very important person to Mac, even if they haven't seen each other in years. I'm basing their relationship on something that two of my best friends experianced not too long ago. The three of us grew up together, but his familymoved away when we were just about to start high school.A few months ago he came back for a visit and they just... clicked. I can't explain it, and I can honestly (though not happily) say that I have never been **that much**in love before, but I have been in love and my friend doesn't exactly hide the fact that she's head over heels._

_A note about Tracey Needham. She hasn't done much acting since she left JAG, but tonight I saw her on CSI Miami playing what essentially turned out to be the polar opposite to her JAG character. It was a little weird._

_Please tell me what you thought about this chapter. I want to hear your thoughts, good, bad, or ugly._

_M_


	8. Chapter Eight

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE:_

_-A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details._

_DEDICATION: To my readers. I'm writing this for you._

_NOTES: I realize that there hasn't been much Harm/Meg time, but, believe me, their time is coming up fast. There is a true method to my madness, even if no one else has been able to spot it._

* * *

**NORFOLK NAVAL BASE**

**NORFOLK, VIRGINIA**

**0140 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

The pounding on the door that roused Meg from her restless slumber was almost welcome, as it pulled her out of a nightmare of _Exorcist_ proportions. She reached over and flipped on the lamp beside the bed and threw back the covers. Not bothering to search for her robe, Meg went to the door and glanced out through a crack in the curtains over the window beside the door.

"Damn it, Brumby, it's two in the freaking morning," Meg groused as she pulled the door open. "This had better be good."

"It is," Mic said, pushing his way into her room.

"Come on in," Meg said sourly. She closed the door but didn't lock it. Her USN sweater was sitting on the top of her bag and she pulled it over the tank top she had been wearing to sleep in. Her flannel pants covered her right down to her toes, but, somehow, she felt like a suit of armour wouldn't cover enough of her body. If she were in uniform she would have probably felt stronger, but there was no way she was getting changed with Mic in the room. "What is it?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and staring the man down.

"The weapons that were stolen were recovered by local PD two and a half an hours ago in a warehouse they got an anonymous tip on," Mic said.

"Case closed?" Meg asked dubiously.

"Well, we still don't have any suspects," Mic said, "but NCIS thinks that whoever took the stuff got nervous and turned it back in. They're gonna investigate further but we're off the hook."

"Off the hook?" Meg echoed. Mic nodded. "On whose orders?"

"Don't know, don't care. All I know is that it's a long drive back to DC and the office is drowning in backlogged cases," Mic said. He held out a file. "Prelim report from the NCIS agent on scene. Everything seems to be accounted for. The weapons specialist on base is on liberty, but he should be back tomorrow night."

Meg scanned the file and cringed. Even from the crime scene photos printed out on regular computer paper she could see that not everything was fully intact.

"Call NCIS and let them know that I'm on my way," Meg said, dropping the file onto her bed and grabbing her uniform off the chair on her way to the bathroom. "Whoever left those weapons there stripped them before making that call," she explained through the door as she quickly changed her clothes.

Mic frowned and studied the photos while making the call. He couldn't see anything missing.

But he knew Meg was a weapons expert, and he didn't think she was the type to prolong an investigation just for the hellofit, so he didn't argue with her.

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT**

**NORTH OF UNION STATION**

**0150 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, July 21**

"This had better be good," Harm growled into the phone that had woken him from a somewhat restful sleep.

"Sorry for waking you, but there's been a revelation and I'm not sure how you want us to play it out," Meg said.

Harm sat up and turned on the lights. "What happened? Are you alright?" he asked, automatically thinking the worst. Norfolk didn't hold the best memories for him.

"I'm fine. Tired, but fine," Meg assured him. "The weapons were recovered in a warehouse. Anonymous tip to the local PD. We're just pulling up now, and it looks like half the Navy is already inside."

"Idiots," Harm muttered.

"Yeah, well, they want this over with," Meg said, though it was clear she had the same thoughts as Harm did on the subject. "Apparently the weapons expert is on Liberty and won't be back until late tomorrow. I was looking at the crime scene photos and… well, they were pretty poor quality, but there are things missing."

"Things?" Harm echoed.

"Pieces of the weapons… I couldn't tell much from the photos, but it looks like parts from everything were taken… maybe to create something new," Meg said. "I have a feeling that this isn't going to be as open and shut as Brumby wants it to be."

Harm took that in and then said, "Okay. Talk to the person in charge and find out what they know so far. Get every non-essential out of there to keep contamination of the evidence to a minimum. Assess the situation and call me as soon as you know anything new."

"Alright," Meg said.

"And Meg?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful," Harm said gently. "If there is any sign of immediate danger, call in the specialist and get out of there." He looked over at a picture of Meg that he'd found and put on his nightstand. "I need you to come back from this," he said.

His voice was so filled with emotion that it brought tears to Meg's eyes. "I always will, Harm. Because I've got something to come back to," Meg replied softly, praying Brumby didn't overhear but not really caring if he did. "I've gotta go. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay. Be safe," Harm said.

"Always," Meg replied before hanging up.

Harm ended the call and sighed heavily. Looking Heavenward he started speaking. "Dad, I know you're bust keeping my six out of trouble all the time, but Meg is dealing with dangerous people right now and… and I can't lose her," he said. Normally he went to the Wall to talk to his father, but he didn't want to leave and miss Meg's call. "Please bring her back to me," Harm pleaded.

* * *

**WAREHOUSE THREE MILES WEST OF NORFOLK NAVAL BASE**

**NORFOLK, VIRGINIA**

**0200 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

After flashing their ID's to the Staff Sergeant standing at the door, Meg led Mic through the busy warehouse. Navy personnel and NCIS agents in suits in varying states of wrinkled-ness were photographing and tagging everything, making careful notes and not touching a thing lest they disturb evidence.

"There are too many people here," Meg said to Mic who nodded his agreement. Even for a warehouse of that size there were too many people trying to process the scene. The more people on scene the higher the chance of contamination of evidence.

"Who is in charge here?" Mic asked a suit.

"Agent McGill," the suit replied, pointing in a vague direction.

"Thanks," Meg said before heading off in a set direction. Mic followed her, confused by how she knew where she was going. "I know McGill. We've worked some cases together in the past," she explained.

Mic nodded and followed her over to a man wearing a starched white shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his arms, and a pair of dress pants, no tie, and a pair of latex gloves. He was in his late thirties, maybe early forties, withblack hair that was cut short and gelled back neatly. He was crouching down in front of a bomb, scrutinizing it as if he couldn't quite place what was wrong with it.

"Timer's gone, and so is the secondary core," Meg said, crouching down next to him.

"I figured the secondary core," McGill replied. "When'd you get back Stateside?" he asked without looking away from the device.

"Few days ago," Meg said. "You got any suspects yet?"

"Nah," McGill said, standing up and shifting his weight a little to get the blood flowing again. "Doubt we'll find the doer, anyway. Guy probably got scared, dropped a dime to PD and headed God knows where."

"If they're so scared, mate,why would they take parts of the weaponry before leaving the rest behind?" Mic asked.

McGill raised an eyebrow. "He with you?" he asked Meg in disbelief.

"Commander Mic Brumby, RAN," Meg said. "And his question is valid. I don't think whoever did this got scared. If that were the case everything would be intact. I'm thinking that the plan wasn't to get all this stuff but to get certain parts, maybe to make a new weapon that can't be as easily traced."

"I'll take that into consideration," McGill said, jotting down her theory in his notepad.

"Who owns this place?" Meg asked.

"The city. It's been up for sale for about four years but no one wants it," McGill said. "Any clue what someone could build from what's missing?"

"I'd need a full list before I answer that," Meg said.

McGill nodded. "Alright. Since the base weapons specialist is unreachable I want you to take care of cataloguing and determining what is missing. I'll be working gumshoe on this one, so anything you need… my staff is at your beck."

"Once CSI is done here get this stuff back to the base. I'm going to make some calls and head back there myself. I need anyone on base with advanced weapons training as well as assistants for everyone. I also want this evidence guarded 24/7," Meg said. Guards were a given, but she wanted more than just the usual Marine at every door. "Oh, and you might want to check the base weapons ex. He went on liberty the same time this stuff was taken and he hasn't been heard from since. I'm thinking there might be more than a coincidence there."

"Until we track him down he's suspect number one," McGill nodded.

"Good," Meg said. "Mic why don't you work with Agent McGill on this one. Harm told me your investigation skills are a little rusty… this might be a good time to give 'em a good polish."

Mic glared at Meg, longing to object on the grounds that he was the senior attorney on the case and he didn't have to take orders from her, but he knew that her plan was the best one so he didn't say a word. Passing his lack of energy to fight on the fact he'd gotten about half an hour of sleep before getting the call, Mic agreed to go with McGill without a fight.

"Call if you find anything," McGill said as Meg headed for the door.

"You too," she replied without turning around.

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT**

**NORTH OF UNION STATION**

**0215 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, July 21**

Harm answered the phone before the first ring had had time to finish. He couldn't explain why he was so worried about Meg—she had been on more dangerous investigations before—but there was just something that wasn't right about the whole situation.

"What's happening?" he asked, unable to keep the undertone of panic out of his voice.

"Parts are missing. Agent McGill is in charge of the investigation," Meg said. "Brumby went with him and I'm on my way back to the base to wait for the team McGill promised me."

Sighing, Harm dragged his hand down his face. "Okay. Stick with the investigation and keep me updated," he said.

"Harm, are you okay?" Meg asked. "Is it Bud? Is he worse?"

"No, as far as I know he's fine," Harm assured her. "I'm just… worried about you. You have a tendency to get yourself in trouble."

"No,_ you have a tendency of getting me into trouble_," Meg replied good-naturedly. "I'm fine, I promise," she said seriously when she realized Harm wasn't joking. "I'm just pulling up to the base now, so I should go, but I'll call you in a few hours and give you an update, alright?"

Harm nodded and waited a moment before realizing that Meg couldn't see him. "Alright," Harm said, clearly not reassured. "I'll talk to you in a few hours. Call my cell so you don't miss me."

"Okay," Meg said. "And when I get back we're gonna have a talk about you worrying about me all the time."

"I just don't want to lose you, Meg," Harm said softly.

Meg smiled, her heart speeding up a little at his declaration. "You won't. I promise. Now go get some sleep. I'll talk to you later."

They said a quick goodbye and hung up, and Harm put the phone down on the table beside him. His cell phone sat next to it, fully charged. Next to that sat his pager, then his keys. Harm knew he was being paranoid and that Meg could take care of herself, but he needed to know that he could leave at a moments notice if she needed him.

Once he was sure that he was ready to leave without any warning, Harm moved toward the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**NORFOLK NAVAL BASE**

**NORFOLK, VIRGINIA**

**0230 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Impressed by how fast McGill had put her requests into action, Meg looked over the officers and enlisted who were in front of her. Even though they were all in uniform and were giving off the illusion that they were wide awake and ready for anything, it was clear that none of them was all that happy to be dragged from their beds in the middle of the night for no other reason than the fact that they all had weapons training.

There was no one there over the rank of Lieutenant, making Meg the senior officer in the room. But there were also men and women with upwards of ten years more experience with weaponry than she had and, normally she would have tried to learn some new things, but there wasn't time.

After outlining what was going on, Meg pointed to the cafeteria that had set up tables with bottled water, hot coffee, tea, and some food to tide the sleepless over until morning chow. The room emptied and Meg stayed put, waiting for the arrival of the weapons.

"This is going to be a long night," Meg muttered before taking a seat at a workstation by the loading bay doors.


	9. Chapter Nine

_TITLE__: Pall _

_DEFINITION__: **PALL** _

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us>  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating _

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary _

_RATING__: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on. _

_SUMMERY__: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux. _

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE_

_-A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details. _

_DEDICATION__: To my readers. I'm writing this for you. _

_NOTE 1__: I realize that there hasn't been much Harm/Meg time, but, believe me, their time is coming up fast. There is a true method to my madness, even if no one else has been able to spot it. _

_NOTE 2__: Harm's overprotective insanity will be explained momentarily. I know a lot of you thought that was weird and, after reading over what I wrote, I have to agree with you. So this chapter was altered a little and has, hopefully, explained his insanity. I have one word for you: DISPLACEMENT._

_NOTE 3: Sorry about the Mac/William part in this chapter. Again, patience is appreciated. Just give me a little time and there will be more Harm/Meg moments than you can handle._

_NOTE 4: The lullaby that Harm sings does not belong to me. My cousin sings it to his triplets to get them to go to sleep when he's not diving for the USN. It does not belong to me, and I thank whoever wrote it originally for composing the words that seem to be the only thing that can put the three adorable terrors to sleep._

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT **

**NORTH OF UNION STATION **

**0345 (EST) **

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

When the phone started ringing again Harm thought of his fears about Meg and suspected the worst. It had barely been an hour since he had last spoken with her and they weren't due to talk again until at least after sunrise.

The more logical part of Harm, however, reminded him that it could be any number of people calling him for whatever reason, so he tried not to sound too distressed.

"Rabb," he said bluntly.

"Sir… I'm sorry if I woke you…" Harriet said. Her voice was shaking and Harm felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He'd never heard her sound like that before.

"No, Harriet, it's alright. I was awake. What's wrong?" Harm said gently, hoping to soothe the younger woman.

"It's Bud," Harriet said softly. "I just… I really need to talk to you."

The feeling of dread that had come over him when Meg first called had, he'd assumed, been linked to her situation.

He should have been worried about his best male friend instead of the woman he was lusting over.

"I'll be over in fifteen minutes," Harm said as he grabbed the line of things and hung up the phone. Cell phone. Pager. Keys. Once he was sure he had everything Harm left his apartment.

It was a thirty minute drive to Rossyln.

He made it in ten.

Harriet had the door open before Harm even got to the top of the steps and before he could even check her over to make sure that she was alright Harriet had thrown herself into his arms and was sobbing into his shoulder, holding onto him with a death grip that was akin to the restraints in a Tomcat.

Harm held onto Harriet, refusing to crumble until he knew what was happening. He had yet to see Harriet really express her emotions about what had happened to Bud and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the stress found a way to release itself.

Needing to believe that that was all this was, stress relieving itself, Harm held one of the people he loved most in the world and let her sob and wail and cling to him so tightly that there would probably be ugly bruises and half-moon shaped craters in his back from her manicured nails.

When the dark clouds that had been looming over the majority of the Eastern Seaboard and surrounding areas finally gave in and let loose Harm couldn't do anything. Harriet was rooted to the ground in her fuzzy slippers and blue terry-cloth bathrobe with brightly coloured butterflies adorning it. The rain came down in sheets, the water hitting his exposed skin like pellets from a BB gun.

Just when he was about to try to figure out a way to get Harriet inside and out of the rain without disturbing her the sound of a baby crying tore Harriet from her own grief. She pulled a baby monitor out of the pocket of her robe and looked at it for a moment before making the connection to her son. A second later she was running to the nursery. Harm followed her, pulling the front door closed to keep out the cold night air. By the time he got to the nursery Harriet had little AJ quietly hiccoughing in the aftermath of his brief crying session.

"He doesn't like the rain," Harriet explained as she crossed the room to make sure the window was shut tight. "Bud sings to him when it rains. It makes it less scary," she said sadly. AJ sniffled and whimpered, waiting for the comforting singing to start.

It didn't come.

It couldn't.

"I tried singing him to sleep one night," Harriet went on as she eased her tired body down into the rocking chair in the corner. "It just made him cry even more," she said with a sad smile.

"Why don't you go get into some dry clothes and I'll sing the little guy back to sleep," Harm offered gently as he shed his wet coat and rolled up his damp sleeves to protect AJ from the rainwater that had collected in the fabric of his clothes.

Harriet smiled. "Thanks," she said softly. Harm scooped up the child and cradled him in his arms with all the care in the world.

Once he and the baby were alone Harm pulled out his cell phone and made a quick call to get reinforcements while gently bouncing the baby to calm him down. Once his call was finished Harm started singing a lullaby that his mother used to sing to him when his father was away—before he got shot down. The last time he had heard it was the night before his father went MIA, but the words would never leave his memory.

_"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night _

_Sailed off in a wooden shoe _

_Sailed on a river of crystal light _

_Into a sea of dew _

_Where are you going _

_And what do you wish _

_The old man asked the three _

_We've come to fish _

_For the herring fish _

_That swim in the beautiful sea _

_Nets of sliver and gold we have _

_Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod _

_So all night long _

_Their nets they threw _

_To the stairs in the twinklin' foam _

_Then down from the sky _

_Came the wooden shoe _

_Bringing the fishermen home _

_'Twas oh so pretty _

_A sail it seemed _

_As if it could not be _

_And some folks thought _

_'Twas a dream they dreamed _

_of sailing the beautiful sea _

_But I shall name you _

_The fishermen three _

_Wynken, Blynken, and Nod _

_Wynken and Blynken _

_Are two little eyes _

_And Nod is a weary head _

_And the wooden show _

_That sailed the skies _

_Is a wee one's trundle bed _

_So shut your eyes _

_While Uncle Harm sings _

_Of the wonderful sights that be _

_And you shall see _

_All the beautiful things _

_As you rock in that misty sea _

_Just like the fishermen three _

_Wynken, Blynken, and Nod _

_Just like the fishermen three _

_Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" _

AJ had fallen asleep about halfway through the song and Harm smiled as he lay the child down in his crib.

"Cute song," Harriet said softly from the doorway. She was wearing flannel pyjamas that were a bubblegum pink with brightly coloured cartoon ducks all over them, her feet covered by thick wool socks that harm suspected belonged to Bud.

Harm blushed. "My mom used to sing it to me. Before my dad went MIA. I had nightmares about him being shot down… about something going wrong with the plane… and there was a recurring one that I still don't understand," Harm said with a slight smile.

"What about it don't you understand?" Harriet asked as they made their way down to the living room.

"It was just… well, funny, I guess," Harm said. "When I was about four or so there was a visitors day on the Hornet. Dad showed me all around the ship… I kept tripping on the knee knockers so he picked me up and I got my first contusion from the top of the hatches on a carrier," he said with a smile. Harriet grinned at that, having seen Harm ducking on the Seahawk. "He showed me his bunk. There was a picture of me and mom stuck to the bottom of the upper bunk. He said that he felt better with mom there to watch over him."

"That's sweet," Harriet said.

"Yeah, I guess it was. I thought it was a little weird, but, again, I was only four and I had mom watching over me all the time so I didn't get his need to have her right there," Harm admitted. "I remember he had to go help Tom Boon with something… I stayed in the cabin. I was lying on his bunk, looking up at the pictures mom had made me get all dressed up to have taken at some department store… and I kept thinking that the top bunk was going to fall on me." Harriet laughed. "Hey, I was still sleeping with a nightlight and getting mom to check the closet and under the bed for monsters before I went to sleep. Irrationality kinda comes with being four," Harm said, not really feeling defensive but hoping that he could keep Harriet laughing because it was easier for him to be around a giddy person than a sobbing one. "After that… I kept having nightmares about Tom's bunk crashing down on my dad and squishing him in the middle of the night."

"Death by bunk bed. Not a fun way to go," Harriet commented.

Harm nodded his agreement. Not that the way his father had died was any better, but Harm figured there was probably less pain in being shot in the chest than there was in being slowly smushed between two Navy-issue bunks.

He hoped.

"I… um… I did actually have a reason when I called you tonight," Harriet said rather awkwardly. "I need a favour."

"Anything," Harm said without hesitation.

Harriet took a deep breath and then started speaking.

* * *

**MAC'S APARTMENT **

**GEORGETOWN **

**0400 (EST) **

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Insomnia, a constant in the life of Sarah MacKenzie, had come to visit her yet again.

Torment her yet again.

Vodka had once been her way to escape from the draining sleeplessness. Passing out drunk wasn't the optimum way to get some Z's but she had always thought it was better than the alternative.

But alcohol wasn't what Mac needed. Beyond the years of sobriety she had under her belt and the fact that she didn't even have cough syrup in her apartment, Mac didn't feel the need to lose control of herself. In fact, Mac was feeling a very strong need to stay in control that that moment.

Spending the day with Harriet hadn't quite been fun, but it was something that they had both needed desperately. It was a testament to how close their relationship was, though, that Harriet would actually take her advice to go home and spend some time with little AJ instead of absently tapping her toe against the linoleum in time with the beeps of the heart monitor her husband was hooked up to. Mac had felt a lot better after Harriet had asked her to drop her and AJ off at the house instead of going back to the hospital.

Harriet Simms was by far the most full-of-life person Sarah MacKenzie had ever met, and seeing her so defeated and lost was eating away at Mac like the flesh eating virus that she'd seen on the Discovery Channel a few weeks before.

The medical video of the different stages of the virus' attacks had made her lose her lunch, one of her oh-so-treasured Beltway Burgers.

The feeling she was getting now, though, was a hundred times worse than the nausea that came from an overly graphic documentary whose warning tags she hadn't taken seriously.

The phone had started ringing half an hour before, startling Mac just as she was about to go drill-sergeant on her mind's ass to get it to shut down so she could get some sleep. On the other end of the line was Special Agent Marilyn Rowe, FBI, with an update on the interrogation of the surviving shooter. Apparently even the FBI knew that Mac rarely slept through the night because it didn't bother Marilyn one bit that it was _three-twenty-fricking-one-in-the-godforsaken-morning_ and that Mac wasn't technically the JAG contact for the case and shouldn't really be hearing anything unless Meg felt it was knowledge worth sharing.

_"You do realize this isn't my case, right?" Mac said as she pulled her blankets a little closet to her chin in hopes of quelling the shivers that she knew had nothing to do with the temperature. _

_"Of course," Marilyn replied. "But I don't have a contact number for Lieutenant Commander Austin and I didn't wish to disrupt your Admiral's retreat." _

_"That still doesn't rule out Harm… Commander Rabb," Mac said. "He's senior to me and is acting JAG for the time being. You should have contacted him when you couldn't get in touch with Commander Austin." _

_"I'm sorry, Colonel MacKenzie," Marilyn said a little icily. "All I know is that you wanted to be kept in the loop. I'm keeping you in the loop. I'll courier the written report over to the office in the morning. Will Lieutenant Commander Austin be in or should I address it to Commander Rabb?" _

_"Send it to Commander Rabb. Meg's in Norfolk on an investigation. As far as I know she'll be out there for a few days," Mac said. He rubbed her hand over her face. "Um… look, I'm sorry. It's just… it hasn't been the best week, ya know?" _

_Marilyn's tone softened. "I know. And I should have called Rabb about this, or tried to get a number on Austin. I just thought… well, that William would tell you anyway and that maybe my telling you would…" _

_"Would what?" Mac inquired. _

_"Look, I know you've got history with him and that's fine. But he's my partner and if you screw around with his feelings I'm the one that's gonna be hearing about it on stakeouts for the next god knows how long," Marilyn said. "His track record with women isn't exactly something to write home about and I know you two have only really gone out once but he really wants to make something work with you and if you two don't work out because of some other reason that's fine by me but if it's because of the job… then there's something I could have done about it. I've screwed up enough of my own relationships because of this job. I don't need to start ruining other peoples too." _

_Mac smiled softly. She was glad that William had someone to watch his back like Marilyn obviously did. "Marilyn, you don't have to worry about that. If whatever William and I are starting doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. I've been where you are right now and I've tried stepping back and I've tried getting involved and the truth is that nothing you can do or not do is going to drastically alter the course of a relationship that you're only peripheral to," she said honestly. "But thank you for caring enough to make the effort." _

After she had hung up the phone Mac had thrown back the covers and gone out to the living room and curling up on the couch to think.

Being with William was so nice. Easy but not boring. Fun but not without some semblance of decorum. And there was something inside of her that came to life when he was around.

But they hadn't seen each other in so long and Mac was worried that what she was feeling was just a reaction to seeing an old crush after a long time apart. Like seeing the guy you had a crush on in high school and going out with him only to find out that the guy you liked in high school grew up into the polar opposite of who you had a crush on or that, even worse, the guy you liked in high school hadn't grown up at all but had been in some kind of time capsule holding pattern for the past however long because high school is the _best time of your life_ and what works for the prom king behind the gym has to work later in life even when the prom king is pushing forty and has doubled in mass and made up for it in loss of hair.

Normally Mac would go to Harriet for advice. No matter what time it was Harriet had always found time to council Mac in the past. Mac had even picked up the phone and had her thumb hovering over MEMORY 3 when her common sense kicked in.

New baby at home.

Husband in a coma.

Emotionally exhausted Ensign.

Calling Harriet for advice on her love life was not only a bad idea, it would be downright mean, and Mac knew it. Talking about her date earlier that day was one thing. Mac hadn't been the one to push the topic beyond her apology for not coming to the hospital the night before. Harriet had been the one who wanted to engage in some good old fashioned girl talk. And Mac felt that maybe it had helped Harriet a little, if only because for a little while she wasn't agonizing over Bud's condition. But seeking Harriet out in the middle of the night because she needed a sounding board was wrong for so many reasons. Mac was pretty sure she would go to Harriet eventually, but she would find the right time and place for it.

Harm had always been able to ferret out the guys who were bad for her in the past. The two that came to her mind first were Dalton and Mark. Dalton Lowne and his tenacity that had turned into stalking. Mark 'Falcon' who had almost gotten them killed in Alameda and then in Russia because he didn't want the world to know that Russia had POW's from Vietnam. Harm had never liked them—never liked anyone who liked her, actually, but that was another story—and was, despite her complaints, always good at spotting someone who wasn't right for her.

"I'll talk to Harm at work," Mac said aloud, making a verbal contact with herself because she was afraid she would chicken out if she didn't verbalize her plan.

She was just about to go back to bed to try to get a little bit of sleep before another day of work when the phone rang again.

She answered it before the end of the first ring. Harm was on the other end of the line. He told her about Harriet's frantic call and how she had broken down completely when he got there. He didn't know what he could do to ease Harriet's pain. The lawyer with the silver tongue, the man who could talk his way out of anything and who could win every case he tried if he put his full effort in, couldn't find the words to comfort one of his best friends.

"I'll be right over," Mac said without giving it a moment of thought.

Not even bothering to get dressed—USMC sweat pants and a tee shirt with a raincoat over top were enough for Mac—she grabbed her keys and stuffed her feet into her running shoes that were sitting by the door feeling neglected because she hadn't felt the motivation to run in the past week and then she was out the door.

* * *

_I promise Bud's fate will be declared in the next chapter. So will the results of Meg's investigation._

_M_


	10. Chapter Ten

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details._

_DEDICATION: To my readers. I'm writing this for you._

_NOTE: In earlier chapters I had Mac ranked as Lieutenant Colonel, but I just realized that, at the point that my story is set, she hasn't been promoted yet. Sorry for the mix-up. Mac is still a Major in this fic. And Harm is still 'night blind' and will not be returning to carrier duty._

* * *

**ROBERTS RESIDENCE**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**0435 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

"I… um… I did actually have a reason when I called you tonight," Harriet said rather awkwardly. "I need a favour."

"Anything," Harm said without hesitation.

Harriet took a deep breath and then started speaking.

"Want you to take care of AJ… to raise him… if anything happens to me," Harriet said. "Bud and I were going to talk to you about this soon anyway when we updated our wills… we want you to raise AJ if anything happens to us."

"Harriet, nothing's going to happen," Harm said. "Bud is going to pull through this and AJ is going to have both his parents raising him."

"I hope so, sir, but I need to know that if… if that isn't what happens… I need to know that you will take AJ and raise him like he's your son," Harriet said.

Harm couldn't believe what Harriet was asking of him. It was so incredibly huge and overwhelming that Harmon Rabb Jr was, for maybe the third time in his entire life, speechless. But, as always, he recovered quickly. "Harriet, I would be honoured to raise AJ. I love that little boy more than I ever expected to love another man's son. But please, don't count on that happening. You and Bud are going to live long enough to spoil your great grandchildren. I can feel it."

"Then just think of this as Plan B," Harriet said. She pushed a file folder toward Harm. "Bud had this drafted a few days before the graduation ceremony. We were going to talk to you after about AJ but…"

"Things got crazy," Harm nodded.

"To say the least," Harriet nodded. "Anyway, if you don't think it's something you can do, I understand. It's not like we're asking you to water the plants while we're visiting my parents or something. I already talked to the Major… if you can't or don't want to, she'll become his guardian. The Admiral is after her, and then my parents. But Bud and I really want you to be the one to raise our son if we can't."

"Why me?" Harm asked. He had to know. As honoured as he was, he had to know why he was first on the list to raise little AJ if Bud and Harriet couldn't be there for him.

"Because you have always been there for Bud, and for me. You always supported us, even when we were both being idiots, and you have always come through for us," Harriet said. "There's no way that Bid Bud is getting custody," she added and Harm cringed at the thought of what Bud's father could do to little AJ, "and I really don't want my son raised by my parents in that house that's more like a compound than anything else."

"But what about Mac?" Harm asked.

Harriet looked down at her hands and then looked back up at Harm. "I know this sounds awful, but the Major… she wasn't raised in a family environment. Even after you lost your father you had a strong family to support you, and you know what it's like to grow up with someone other than your father. The Major… doesn't have that family background. I know she will be an amazing mother and if she does end up raising AJ I'm positive that she will be just fine… but… I don't know." She rubbed her eyes and fought a yawn. "Bud and I just think that… that AJ will be better off with you."

"Did… how did you explain this to Mac?" Harm asked. He couldn't stand it if something like their friend's will came between them.

"We talked over lunch… she was a little hurt but she said she understood. She said it helped knowing that AJ would be with you," Harriet said.

He picked up the file and read it over with the eyes of a skilled lawyer. It basically said that if he either couldn't or wouldn't take AJ in if Bud and Harriet died or were otherwise incapable of raising their child, Mac would get him. And if Mac couldn't or wouldn't AJ would go to the Admiral, who had already signed off on the plan. There was money set aside for AJ's education and all assets would be diverted to aid in paying for anything that AJ would need. The agreement went on for several pages, outlining everything that Child Services required for a legal adoption as well as many other addendums that were put in to protect both Harm and AJ from the kinds of things that most people didn't even bother to think about until it was too late.

"I know this is a huge favour, and I can understand if you need time to think about it," Harriet went on, "but I just… after the call I got tonight… I want to make sure that everything is in order. Just in case."

Harm looked up at Harriet sharply. "What call?" he asked.

**

* * *

**

**ROBERTS' RESIDENCE**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**0241 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Harriet had just settled AJ down after his two-o'clock feeding when the phone rang.

Because she was racing to grab the handset before it woke the baby back up, Harriet didn't have time to worry about what a call at twenty to three in the morning could mean.

"Roberts residence," Harriet said, thankful that there were no sounds coming from the nursery other than AJ's soft snores and the soothing sounds of the little music box that the Admiral had brought back from Milan while he was visiting his daughter a few weeks earlier.

"Mrs Roberts, this is Dr. Lowry, the attending on duty at Bethesda Naval Hospital tonight," the male voice on the other end of the line said. "Ma'am, you might want to sit down," he said gently.

Harriet didn't think she could make it to a chair so she sank down the wall and sat on the floor in the hallway. Her fingers were wrapped around the phone so tightly that her knuckles were white and her whole body was shaking.

"What happened?" Harriet asked, her voice shaking much more than she would have liked. "Is my husband alright?"

"He's stable," Lowry said. "He had some internal bleeding that we didn't catch before. We did some scans and found a portion of a bullet that was missed in the initial surgery. It moved from where it was harmless and it damaged two arteries. It was caught early enough, though, and he is in recovery again."

"How did you miss this fragment?" Harriet asked, her fear turning to anger. Bethesda was supposed to be the best facility in the world.

"I honestly cannot tell you, ma'am. I have yet to speak with the surgeon who worked on your husband when he was first brought in," Lowry said. "I'll have more information for you in the morning."

* * *

**ROBERTS RESIDENCE**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**0450 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

"That's it? That's all he told you?" Harm asked.

Harriet nodded. "Lowry said that Bud is back in recovery and that he will probably be there for a few days before he's moved back to the ICU. He still hasn't woken up and, with the second surgery…" she trailed off, unable to continue.

Harm moved over and pulled Harriet into his arms. She curled up against his chest and cried, and Harm held her, hoping that he was offering her at least a little comfort.

* * *

**NORFOLK NAVAL BASE**

**NORFOLK, VIRGINIA**

**0600 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Everyone in the lab was exhausted and, for lack of a better word, grumpy, but, finally, after several hours of non-stop analysis that normally would have taken a small task force months, possibly even years, to tackle, they were successful in getting a complete list of what was extracted by the thieves.

After sending everyone to their quarters for some sleep Meg typed out the list before e-mailing it to Harm at the office. She figured that what they had could wait until he got to work in a few hours. From what she could put together in her sleep-deprived brain the thieves were trying to build a weapon with the parts that didn't have scanning codes. Scanning codes were randomly interspersed in ninety percent of complex weaponry and it hadn't even occurred to her until a Petty Officer with an eagle eye and a mind that, apparently, worked amazingly well on no sleep and long hours, pointed it out to her. Meg had made a note of his name and was going to give his CO a very favourable review.

The only good thing about the thieves only taking the non-scanned parts was that it would take a lot of time and a huge trail for them to get what they needed for the end result.

She finished typing out the list and printed a copy for the investigation file. Figuring she could be on the road back to DC in about half an hour, assuming Brumby was as ready to go as he had been five hours ago, Meg started wrapping things up.

What she didn't count on, however, was the man with dark hair, an expensive suit, and an attitude that screamed 'spoiled child' walking up to her and tossing a file onto the keyboard that her fingers were flying over.

"Lieutenant Commander Austin," he said. It wasn't a question.

Since nothing about him made her think military, let along senior officer, Meg moved the file off to the side and finished off the e-mail. She clicked SEND and shut everything down before responding. "Do I know you?" she asked, rising and looking the man in the eye.

"Clayton Webb, Department of State," he said, extending his hand to her.

"Ah, the infamous Webb," Meg nodded, not taking the proffered hand. "In case you hadn't noticed, this is a secure facility and, unless I'm very much mistaken, I'm not the CIA's lapdog, so you can forget whatever mission you just tossed my way."

"I'm not here to get anything, Meg."

"_Commander Austin_," Meg corrected firmly.

"Commander Austin," Clay acquiesced. "I'm here to give you a list of names."

Biting back several sarcastic comments, Meg picked up the file. "Names?" she asked, not wanting to crack the file lest she find out that as soon as she read what was inside she was trapped into executing some CIA mission like Harm and Mac had been so many times in the past.

"Of the people responsible for the attack on the Academy," Clay said. "The man the FBI has in custody is Pete Marino. He's wanted on eighteen anti-military acts on four different continents. The two DOA's are Angelo Carletti and Ryner Oates. The rest are known associates, potential whereabouts, crimes that have been attributed to them, and any dirt I could find that could help put them away. You might find a familiar name on there. A Lieutenant Taylor Oswell, USN."

"The weapons expert here on base," Meg said softly. It was all coming together, and she really didn't like where she saw this going.

Looking up at the CIA agent, her clear blue eyes sharp and unblinking. "Why?"

"Why am I helping? Because, despite his bumbling nature, Roberts is a good man and his wife and kid deserve to know who did this to him," Webb said. "If you need anything else, you know how to contact me."

"Sorry, I lost my keys to the Bat Signal," Meg said sarcastically. Clay sighed and pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Meg who glanced at it before tucking it into her own pocket without a thought.

Then, without another word, Clay left as silently as he had arrived.

Pulling out her phone Meg dialled Brumby's cell number. The Aussie answered almost immediately, as if he were waiting for a call. "Brumby."

"It's me," Meg said. "You ready to head back to DC?"

* * *

**ROBERTS RESIDENCE**

**ROSSYLN, VIRGINIA**

**0515 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Harriet had cried herself to sleep in Harm's arms. Harm had carried her up to her room and tucked her in, taking the baby monitor with him so that she could get a few hours of, hopefully, uninterrupted sleep even if AJ woke up again.

He was just going to go into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee when he heard a key turning in the front door. He tensed up, wishing he knew where Bud kept his service weapon. "Harm?" Mac's voice called softly. Harm relaxed and went to the front entryway.

"Shh. Harriet just fell asleep and I don't know how long AJ'll be out before he gets hungry again," Harm said softly.

"Where's Mikey?" Mac asked as she toed off her shoes and nudged them into a corner.

"He decided to stay at a hotel for the night to give Harriet some time with little AJ," Harm said as they went into the kitchen. He started the coffee and then, once Mac was sitting down, he told her about Bud's second surgery.

Fat crystalline tears slid down her cheeks and she angrily wiped them away with a paper napkin.

"We have to find out why this happened, Harm," Mac said.

"I promise you that we will," Harm pledged.

Mac was comforted by that. Harm never made a promise he couldn't keep.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**1400 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Even though they weren't expected back at the office until the next morning, neither Meg nor Brumby felt much like taking the day off, especially when the information that they had was potentially volatile and needed to be given to the proper people before it was discovered that they knew what Clay had told Meg.

"Tiner, where is Commander Rabb?" Meg asked the Petty Officer who was bent over the copy machine.

"Conference Room B," Tiner said. "The new lawyers arrived about half an hour ago, ma'am, and the Commander and the Major have been with them ever since."

Brumby looked at his watch and then over at Meg. "Think the Feds'll still be in the office?"

"It's highly likely," Meg said with a roll of her baby blue eyes. "Call the SAC and get someone over here to pick up the files Webb gave me," she said to Brumby. Normally she would have never thought to give a superior officer an order, but she was in charge of the Annapolis investigation and that put her in charge of Brumby for the time being. "Thank you, Tiner," she added, heading toward Conference Room B.

Pausing momentarily outside the door to take a calming breath, Meg pushed her way into the conference room where Harm and Mac were sorting through cases with two lawyers, one Navy and one Marine.

"Meg," Mac said, surprised. "I thought you would be in Norfolk for at least another day."

"So did I," Meg admitted as she reached into her leather briefcase. "But the list was compiled faster than expected and… there's been a few revelations that I think the FBI agents and the Admiral should be let in on."

Harm's eyes met Meg's for a long moment, silently asking her if she was alright. She nodded almost imperceptibly and Harm felt some of the tension that had been building up since her first call several hours ago dissipate. "Lieutenant Commander Austin, these are our latest additions to the office. Commander Stiles, Major Carter, this is Commander Austin."

Greetings were exchanged and then Harm said, "I think you two have enough to deal with at the moment. Go get settled and make sure Petty Officer Tiner receives your paperwork before you leave for the day."

"Aye, aye, sir," Stiles said as he and Carter stood at attention. They gathered up the files they had been given and left the room without another word.

"Revelations?" Mac prodded.

"Clayton Webb came to see me as I was typing up the list of stolen parts," Meg said. "He gave me this," she said as she slid the file down the table to Harm and Mac.

"How the hell did Webb get involved?" Mac asked as she opened the file and scanned the top page.

"I don't know, ma'am, but if what is in that file is factual the FBI might be able to use that against the shooter," Meg said. "Commander Brumby is calling the Special Agent in Charge now. Hopefully the intel that Mr. Webb gave me is accurate and will help them with their interrogation of Pete Marino, the man you shot out of the tree, Mac."

Mac looked from the file then to Meg. "How did Webb act when he gave this to you?"

"Nervous," Meg said. "Maybe a little guilty. And cocky."

"Cocky doesn't tell us anything. That's just Webb being Webb," Harm said as he lifted the top page of the file to look at the following sheet. "These names sound familiar," he said softly.

Then the realization hit him.

"I've gotta call the Admiral," Harm said, grabbing the file and rushing from the room, leaving two very confused women in his wake.


	11. Chapter Eleven

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_  
Function: noun  
Etymology: Middle English, cloak, mantle, from Old English pæll, from Latin **pallium**  
**1** **(a)** square of linen usually stiffened with cardboard that is used to cover the chalice **(b) **a heavy cloth draped over a coffin; **(c) **a coffin especially when holding a body  
**2** something that covers or conceals; especially_

_**3** an overspreading element that produces an effect of gloom a pall of thick black smoke _

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details._

_DEDICATION: To my readers. I'm writing this for you._

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**2000 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

It was several hours after they had returned to JAG headquarters before Meg and Brumby got a chance to breathe.

After splitting up Brumby called William and Marilyn at the FBI and Meg told Harm and Mac what Clay had told her. Harm had rushed out of the conference room to call the Admiral and Jennifer Coates had reluctantly barred Meg and Mac from the Admiral's office when they tried to find out why Harm had to speak to their CO so urgently. They didn't have time to worry about that, though, since William and Marilyn arrived soon after as they had already been on their way to JAG to meet everyone involved and give a thorough update on the investigation.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**1430 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Mac had decided that she wasn't going to get past Jennifer and, judging from the blonde's posture, Mac figured that Meg wasn't going to be able to stay mobile much longer, so she led the younger woman to her office and broke out the stash of chocolates she had in her desk. "I picked them up in Belgium when Harm and I were on an assignment a while back," Mac said, offering the box to Meg.

"Thanks," Meg said, selecting a small square and popping it in her mouth. She sank down into a chair and Mac sat down behind her desk. "I'm not gonna be the best company right now," Meg apologized.

"When was the last time you got any sleep?" Mac asked gently.

"Before leaving for Norfolk, and that was on Harm's couch. I got a few minutes of tossing and turning before Brumby started pounding on my door to let me know the stolen good had been located," Meg said. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes tightly. "I don't remember being this tired when I was pulling all-nighters in law school."

"You're not in your twenties anymore," Mac pointed out.

Meg groaned.

"Why don't you go home, get some rest," Mac said. "I'm sure Harm won't mind. You gave him the files and he's already sent the list you e-mailed him off to some weapon's specialists that we know. You're no good to anyone when you can barely keep your eyes open."

"It's tempting, but I'm not looking forward to sleeping on the floor quite yet," Meg said. Mac frowned, confused. "My things haven't arrived yet. I have one of those air mattresses for camping set up where my bed should be. I've got one suitcase of clothes and one clean uniform left. My dry cleaner retired and I haven't had time to find another one. If it wasn't for Harm I would be living off of take-out."

Mac was about to respond when Tiner knocked on the doorframe. "Special Agents Reigner and Rowe are here to see you, Colonel," he said.

"Thank you, Tiner," Mac said. She felt a tiny tingle in her stomach at the thought of seeing William but she pushed it away. They were at JAG. He was there in an official capacity. "You up for this?" she asked Meg.

"Yeah," Meg said as she forced herself to get out of the comfortable chair.

They went back to the conference room and Meg gratefully accepted the cup of coffee Tiner held out for her as she sat down. Brumby had his fingers wrapped around his own much and he raised the ceramic mug in a toast. Meg smiled weakly and prayed that the meeting wouldn't take long.

A handsome man in a suit sat down next to Mac, a woman taking a seat across from him. Meg assumed that they were the FBI agents. She could see what Mac saw in the man. He was gorgeous. But her attention was pulled away from William Regnier the moment Harmon Rabb Jr came into the room.

"Admiral Chegwidden will be on the first flight back to DC. He arrives at Dulles at 2100. Tiner, Coates will be picking him up. Make sure you cover for her duties at the office while she is out," Harm said.

"Yes sir," Tiner said.

"Dismissed," Harm said before Tiner could ask if there was anything else that he needed to do for the group. Tiner stood at attention and said a quick 'Aye, sir' before turning and headed out of the conference room.

Once the door was closed Harm started speaking again. He didn't waste time with introductions or small talk.

"The group that organized the attack on Annapolis is a faction of an Italian anti-military group that has close ties to Italian mafia and terrorist cells around the world. Angelo Carletti and Ryner Oates were fairly low in the hierarchy. They probably only got the assignment because of their talent as sharp-shooters that, apparently, is renowned in many circles," Harm said. "We don't know much about Taylor Oswell other than what I got from his file. No red flags in it, nothing to indicate that this has been a long-term plan of his. His motive is still a mystery. But the big surprise is Pete Marino."

Mac tensed up. "As in _Captain_ Marino?" she asked.

"One and the same," Harm nodded.

"Who is this guy?" William asked.

Mac answered that. "Captain Peter Marino was a Navy SEAL in Vietnam. His team and Admiral Chegwidden's were trapped by the VC for two weeks in an underground cavern before they got their chance to escape. They were heading to their extraction point when Marino turned on the teams. He slaughtered half the men there before the Admiral and two other men subdued him. Marino was sentenced to life in prison but he escaped three years ago. He didn't waste any time in finishing what he had started in Vietnam. Three more members of SEAL Team Two, Marino's team, were killed before someone caught on. The Admiral was notified that he was a potential target, especially since he was one of the men who stopped Marino from killing everyone in the first place."

"So you're thinking, that, what? This Marino guy joined up with an anti-military group so he could get help killing the rest of the SEALs?" Marilyn asked.

"It's doubtful that's his motivation," Harm said. "Marino wouldn't want help killing these men. He thinks it's his duty to take them out himself. He claimed at his trial that he was ordered to eliminate the men of SEAL Teams Two and Three. In his mind he's just obeying orders."

"So he's mentally unstable," William said.

"Very possibly, but he's not insane," Mac said. "Admiral Chegwidden will be able to tell you more when he gets back. He only told Harm and me because we were in a meeting with him when he got the call."

"How did we not know about this guy? Why wasn't he in the system?" Marilyn asked.

If there was an answer to that question no one in the room had it.

"Unfortunately that is just one of many questions that we need to answer to get to the bottom of this," Harm said reluctantly. "Another more pressing question is what the hell are they trying to make with the parts they took," he added, looking at Meg.

Meg sat up a little straighter. "Near as I can tell they're trying to build an untraceable weapon… I can't tell you much more than that right now."

"You're sure these two events are related?" William asked. "It doesn't seem to fit together."

"Our links are all circumstantial at the moment," Meg admitted. "Oswell took a day of leave to go to the graduation even though, as far as we can tell, he didn't know anyone who was graduating. He went through OCS, so he wasn't an Alumnus of Annapolis. A Commander Alice Ross, also stationed at Norfolk, was going to the ceremony because her younger brother was graduating and she said that Oswell hanging out by the shed that Ryner was in, and that Oswell disappeared just before the shooting started and she didn't see him 'til she got back to Norfolk late the next morning. We're working on getting more witnesses."

"When did you talk to Ross?" Marilyn asked.

"Early this morning," Brumby said. "She was on duty, though, and didn't have much time. Said she's taking some time off starting this weekend. We've got an appointment Saturday."

"Good. Keep us updated," Marilyn said.

Mic nodded and remained silent for the rest of the meeting.

"Any word on how your guy is doing?" William asked. "Bud Roberts, right?" he asked, checking for confirmation.

Harm nodded and then said, "Not so great. He had to go back into surgery last night and the doctors feel that this setback will make it even harder for him to come out of the coma."

"Shit," Marilyn said softly. "How's his family doing?"

"As well as can be expected," Harm said, sharing a look with Mac.

"We… need to talk to Mrs. Roberts. Get a statement," Marilyn said gently. "It would probably be better if someone was with her, though," she added before anyone could protest. She had a feeling that no one was going to get within a hundred yards of Harriet Simms-Roberts without Harm or Mac knowing about it.

Harm nodded, the lawyer part of him warring with the protective friend part. It wasn't a pleasant war. Legally he knew that the FBI had to talk to Harriet to make sure they knew everything she knew. Emotionally, though, Harm didn't want to force Harriet to relive that day again. "I'll call; find a time that works for everyone," he said.

"Thank you," Marilyn said. "We also need to speak with the doctors that worked on and are working on Lieutenant Roberts. Unfortunately they'll probably hide behind doctor-patient confidentiality until we get a court order, and there's no probable cause to get a judge to sign off on that, so…"

"I'll draw up some forms for Harriet to sign," Mac offered. "They'll give you both access to Bud's files and allow the doctors to speak candidly with you. And, not that we don't trust you, but there will also have to be a confidentiality clause."

"Naturally," William said, not at all offended. He looked at Meg. "Where did you get the information on the shooters?"

"We have a contact at the CIA," Harm said before Meg could speak. "He used his contacts to get the intel."

For the next hour and a half they went over every detail of the case until everyone was completely caught up. Then William and Marilyn both got 911 pages from someone they worked with and they had to take off. Mac had to be in court so she went off to gather her files, and Harm locked himself in the Admiral's office making phone calls and getting the inconsequential work out of the way before Chegwidden returned.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**2000 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

"Some day, huh?" Brumby said as he added liberal amounts of sugar to his coffee. He desperately wanted something stronger but he was still at work and didn't think leaving for a quick beer would go over too well with anyone else.

"Long day," Meg replied, pouring herself a cup of coffee and drinking half of it before realizing she hadn't added her usual cream and sugar substitute.

"Feel like getting a drink?" Brumby asked.

Meg looked up at Mic in shock. She recovered quickly, though. "No thank you. I'm going to stick around here for a little while longer and then I'm going to go get some sleep," she said. That was a lie. She was going to stay at the office until Harm left because she was afraid that now that they had tangible evidence he would pursue the people behind the shooting as doggedly as he had his father. "Maybe another time," she added before leaving the kitchen and going to her office. She hid out in there until she saw Mic leave for the day. Something about that guy bothered her, and, even though he had basically been a perfect gentleman on their trip to Norfolk, Meg didn't want to be alone with him.

After managing to get a solid half our of concentration in Meg gave up and turned off her computer. The office was more or less empty already, though the new lawyers were still hanging around, putting in a little extra work either because they didn't want to get bogged down or because they wanted to make a good first impression on Admiral Chegwidden. Possibly a little of both.

"Tiner, is the Commander still in?" Meg asked as he came to attention in front of her.

"Yes, ma'am. Would you like to see him?"

Meg nodded and Tiner picked up the phone. She didn't listen to the conversation but thanked Tiner when he told her to go right on in.

"What are you still doing here?" Harm asked as Meg went into the office and closed the door.

"Waiting for you to let poor Tiner secure for the day," Meg said. "Come on, sir. It's late. Time for you to close up shop and take me out to dinner."

Harm smiled. "I like a woman who knows what she wants," he said, closing the file he was working on and standing up. Meg went to get her things while Harm packed up his own belongings, making sure that anything he might have brought into the Admiral's office was gone.

Within ten minutes Harm had secured Tiner as well as the new lawyers and he and Meg rode down in the elevator with everyone else. They all split up in the parking lot, going to their respective cars or to the nearest transit route.

"Where to?" Harm asked.

"I'm craving something spicy," Meg said.

Grinning, Harm put the car in gear. "I know just the place."

* * *

**MIKE'S MEXICAN PALACE**

**WASHINGTON, DC**

**2140 (EST)**

**WEDNESDAY, JULY 21**

Though she had been dubious about eating at Mike's Mexican Palace, Meg had immediately felt at home in the cozy restaurant. They sat down at their table and ordered drinks before looking over the menus. By the time their drinks arrived they were ready to order. After their waiter had taken their orders he left them alone.

They were seated in an intimate back corner, away from the other patrons, and both of them were enjoying the date-like quality to the evening, even if it wasn't really a date.

"So how'd you find this place?" Meg asked as she glanced around at the murals on the walls and the decorative cowboy feel that the restaurant had.

"When Harriet was in her second trimester she had the worst cravings imaginable. She found this place… god knows how. She raved about this place for weeks. Until she got to her third trimester and she couldn't even stand the sight of spicy food," Harm said. "If you want to know where to find the blandest white rice and buttered egg noodles in DC I can show you where to go, too."

Meg scrunched up her nose. "I'll pass, thanks," she said. She looked at Harm for a minute and then said, "How is it that you never got married?"

"That's out of the blue," Harm said.

"There are connections. You'd have to be in my head to understand how I got there, though," Meg said. "And you're being non-responsive, councillor."

"I'm just not seeing the relevance, councillor," Harm replied. He flashed her a smile. "I'll answer if you do the same."

"I haven't been asked ay questions," Meg said. Harm shot her a look and she nodded. "Fine. You tell me why an attractive, successful, intelligent man like yourself is living alone in a loft and I'll tell you why I'm sleeping on the couch of an attractive, successful, intelligent man instead of looking at floral arrangements and agonizing over seating charts."

Harm quirked an eyebrow at Meg's spin on things but didn't comment on it. "I just… haven't met a woman who can deal with the pressures of my job. I was seeing this woman a little while ago… she was a doctor in the Navy. I thought she would be able to understand… but the problem with dating a shrink is that they just want to analyze everything that you do and say… plus there was the Mac issue."

"_The Mac issue_?" Meg asked.

"Jordan… had some… problems, I guess, with how close Mac and I are. She felt that it was only a matter of time before we got together," Harm said.

"And is it?" Meg asked.

"No," Harm said, shaking his head. "Mac and I… we are destined to be friends and nothing more. And I'm good with that." He looked at Meg. "So what about you?"

Meg frowned, her mind elsewhere for the moment. "What about me?"

"Why is there no ring on this finger?" Harm said as he took her left hand in his and brushed his thumb over her ring finger.

Shrugging, Meg twisted her hand around so that her fingers were twined with Harms. "Same as you. Work is time consuming and I can't find a guy who understands that. Plus I have this habit of comparing every guy I meet to… someone else," she said, stopping herself before she revealed her biggest secret.

Harm was about to ask who when their food came. Their waiter hovered around the table for several minutes, explaining certain things and asking if they would like their drinks freshened up, and by the time he was gone Meg had decided to change the subject to something that was a little safer.

"You dated your psychiatrist?" Meg asked. "Isn't that breaking some kind of rule?"

"She wasn't _my_ psychiatrist, she was _a_ psychiatrist," Harm corrected. "I don't have a shrink."

"Maybe you should," Meg said.

"Ouch."

Meg rolled her eyes and picked up her fork. "I'm just saying that you might benefit from therapy. I think a lot of people would. Seeing a psychiatrist is nothing to be ashamed of."

"You ever been? And not because you were forced to?" Harm asked.

"Twice a month for the last two years," Meg said. "It helps, having someone to talk to."

"Well, just so you know, you can always talk to me," Harm said. "Without the hourly rates."

"I might just take you up on that," Meg said.

Harm smiled. "Good." He stabbed a chunk of grilled tofu with his fork. "So, you think you're up for a movie after dinner or do you just want to crash?"

"Tempting as some mindless fun sounds right now I doubt I'd make it to the opening credits," Meg admitted. "Rain check?"

"Definitely," Harm said.


	12. Chapter Twelve

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_  
Function: noun  
Etymology: Middle English, cloak, mantle, from Old English pæll, from Latin **pallium**  
**1** **(a)** square of linen usually stiffened with cardboard that is used to cover the chalice **(b) **a heavy cloth draped over a coffin; **(c) **a coffin especially when holding a body  
**2** something that covers or conceals; especially_

_**3** an overspreading element that produces an effect of gloom a pall of thick black smoke _

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details._

_DEDICATION: To my readers. I'm writing this for you._

_NOTE: In the episode _**_The Return of Jimmy Blackhorse_**_ Harriet tells Bud that her sister had eight (I think) bridesmaids and that she only wanted four (again, not sure on the numbers but that's not the point of this note), indicating that she is not an only child. Then in _**_Wedding Bell Blues_**_ Harriet tells Mac that if she had a sister she would want her to be just like the Major which Mac said was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. These episodes were not aired long after each other, only one episode separating them, and the lack of continuity is annoying. However, for the purposes of my story Harriet does not have any siblings. This is a **The Return of Jimmy Blackhorse** backstory-based fic as far as Harriet's family is concerned. Harriet is not an only child in this fic._

* * *

**BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL**

**BETHESDA, MARYLAND**

**1200 (EST)**

**THURSDAY, JULY 22**

"When was it written that cafeteria food should resemble something you find stuck in your drain?" Harm asked as he led Harriet through the hospital cafeteria's line.

"I think it's one of the Commandments, sir," Harriet replied. Harm smiled, glad that Harriet was getting a little of her normal disposition back. "Remind me again why you wanted to have lunch today," she said as Harm pulled out his wallet to pay for their meals.

"There are some things that we need to talk about," Harm said.

"That doesn't sound good," Harriet frowned. "Where's the Major? I thought you said she would be joining us."

Harm picked up the tray. "She's coming. She just had to pick something up before meeting us here." He followed Harriet over to an empty table and they separated their meals. "Okay, first of all, how are you doing?" Harm asked.

"Better, sir," Harriet said. "I don't know what came over me before," she said, embarrassed.

"Hey, it's okay," Harm assured her. "You're only human, Harriet."

Harriet scowled and crumbled her pre-packaged crackers into her soup. "So what's changed in the last twenty-four hours?" she asked.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to divert Harriet's attention any longer—not that he had been all that successful before—Harm started talking. "We have some new leads. Nothing firm yet. Clayton Webb got us names and backgrounds on the three shooters and we passed that along to the FBI."

"That's good," Harriet said. She frowned. "Is that good? I mean, Mr. Webb isn't going to expect you and the Colonel to take on another one of his missions, is he?"

"I doubt it. He didn't go through Mac, or me. He went through Meg, and she's too smart to get tangled up with the CIA," Harm said. Then, realizing what he had implied, he fumbled for a way to amend his statement. "I mean… um…"

"I get it, sir," Harriet said with a small smile.

Harm smiled gratefully. "Anyway, the intel Webb gave us gives Reigner and Rowe leverage over the surviving shooter and they hope to start making some headway now that they have something to work with."

"Good," Harriet said. "But there's something else, isn't there?"

"Yeah," Harm said. He wasn't sure when Harriet had started being able to read him like a book but somewhere along the way she had found the secret decoder for the Harmon Rabb Jr puzzle. "The Feds want to talk to you, get a statement… and talk to the doctors and get Bud's medical records."

Looking down at her food Harriet sighed softly. "Okay," she said quietly. "I mean, if it'll help them there's no point fighting it." She had been expecting this. She wasn't happy about it, but she had known it was coming. "When?"

"This afternoon, if that's good for you," Harm said. "At JAG. I thought that home court advantage would make things a bit easier."

"I'll have to bring AJ with me," Harriet said.

"That's fine," Harm nodded. "Mac's getting the documents that will allow the doctors to give Reigner and Rowe Bud's files. You'll have to sign them and get the files before coming to the office this afternoon."

"Alright," Harriet said, trying her best to take everything in stride.

"The FBI agents… what are they like?" Harriet asked.

"They or he?" Harm asked. Harriet blushed. She'd been caught. Being out of the gossip loop was killing her. "Honestly we didn't talk much. Strictly business. But already I like him better than all the guys from Mac's past, so that's a plus."

"Yeah, but now you're not jealous of her relationships because you've got Commander Austin," Harriet said.

Harm frowned. "I don't 'have' Commander Austin," he said.

"But you want to," Harriet said as she stole a carrot from Harm's plate.

"Maybe," Harm admitted. Harriet shot him a glare and he relented. "Okay, yeah, I do. But there are so many issues there and… I'm sure she just thinks of me as a co-worker, a friend."

"I highly doubt that's the case, sir, but I suppose it doesn't matter either way if you don't intend on acting on your feelings," Harriet said.

Harm had a bad feeling that Harriet was making plans in her match-making head, but he didn't want to push her. If she was meddling in his love life then she was that much closer to being the Harriet he had always known.

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**1450 (EST)**

**THURSDAY, JULY 22**

The tape recorder hummed as it recorded dead air for a minute before Rowe asked her next question. Little AJ was with Petty Officer Coates and Harm and Mac were seated on either side of Harriet, there for moral support more than because they were her and Bud's lawyers. Reigner was at Quantico using the new information to try to get something—anything—out of Marino, though Harm was positive that the Admiral had the best chance of getting the truth out of the shooter.

"What happened the day of the shooting?" Rowe asked.

"Commander Rabb, Major MacKenzie, Lieutenant Roberts, and I had taken little AJ to the graduation ceremony… his first official military event. After the actual ceremony we wandered around for a while, talking to people we knew, and then I had to take AJ inside to change him… and I was looking at the pictures of past classes, showing him old pictures of his extended family… then he started crying. I didn't hear the shots until after he started wailing. I took cover, protecting AJ as best I could without being sure of where the shots were coming from and where they were aimed at. When the shooting stopped I waited until I was sure it wasn't just a pause to reload or something and then I went back out into the hallway. Commander Rabb and Major MacKenzie found me and told me what happened and then… I can't really explain it. It was like I knew Bud was hurt. The Commander and I ran out to the field and found Bud. He was taken to the hospital… and you know the rest."

Rowe nodded. "How is your son holding up?"

"Thankfully he doesn't know what's going on," Harriet said.

"And how are you holding up?" Rowe asked gently.

Harriet looked from Harm to Mac and then over at Rowe again. "I have an amazing support system," was all Harriet said.

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT**

**NORTH OF UNION STATION**

**2300 (EST)**

**THURSDAY, JULY 22**

Harm and Meg had both been at the office until after 2200 going over Marino's history with the Admiral who was still on Pacific Standard Time and were both starving by the time they got back to Harm's place.

"I don't feel like cooking," Harm said as he hung up his coat.

"Me neither," Meg agreed, flopping down on the couch without bothering to take off her coat. She kicked off her shoes and flexed her toes, glad to finally be off her feet. "You think there's anywhere around here that'll still deliver?"

"Pick your poison," Harm said, grabbing a stack of well-used menus out of one of the drawers in the kitchen and handing them to Meg.

Meg went through the menus and decided that pizza was the easiest to deal with. Harm called the order in and Meg got changed into a pair of cutesy pyjamas with dancing pigs on them.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Harm laughed when Meg came out of his bedroom.

"Shut up," Meg said as she went back to the couch and curled up in the corner. "I was talking to Harriet today after she gave her statement to Agent Rowe," she said, changing the subject. "She said she still hasn't told her family what happened."

"Yeah," Harm said. "Harriet's parents never approved of her decision to join the Navy and they always thought that she could do better than Bud. And I don't think Harriet's spoken to her sister in five years. From what I've heard there was a big family battle and Allison just walked away. Then Harriet went to Annapolis and things got even more strained."

"How can her parents not like Bud? He's perfect. Not really my type, but he's smart and funny and loyal and cute… and it sounds like I'm describing the family dog but you know what I mean," Meg said, blushing slightly.

"So what is your type?" Harm asked.

Meg opened her mouth to respond but the knock at the door cut her off. Harm groaned and got up, paying the delivery boy for the pizza and tipping heavily for the late delivery.

It wasn't until he woke up the next morning that he realized that Meg had never answered his question.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_  
Function: noun  
Etymology: Middle English, cloak, mantle, from Old English pæll, from Latin **pallium**  
**1** **(a)** square of linen usually stiffened with cardboard that is used to cover the chalice **(b) **a heavy cloth draped over a coffin; **(c) **a coffin especially when holding a body  
**2** something that covers or conceals; especially_

_**3** an overspreading element that produces an effect of gloom a pall of thick black smoke _

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details. And I never really watched JAG when it was actually on the air—I started watching late in the last season, I'm afraid to admit, but I've been catching up when it airs on History every day at 9, 4, and 8. The only problem with watching a weekly show daily is that timelines are hard to figure, especially since most exterior shots are done 'on location' and not in DC. So I'm taking some author's liberty here by saying that the first trip to the Seahawk with Bud as Harm and Mac's shadow (when Bud and Harriet first met) was in late July. I doubt it was, but just pretend for the purposes of this story that that's the way things worked out, okay? Thanks._

_DEDICATION: To my readers. I'm writing this for you._

* * *

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**1535 (EST)**

**FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA**

**FRIDAY, JULY 23**

With the return of the Admiral to JAG Harm was back in his office which he had offered to share with Meg. She had turned him down, though, opting to just sit at Harriet's desk out in the bullpen since Harriet was on maternity leave as well as compounded emergency family leave. The Admiral had promised that he would get Tiner to clear out one of the offices that had been used for storage in recent months but she told him that she was in no hurry. She was honestly just glad to be back at JAG Headquarters and she didn't care if she had to set up shop in the elevator if that's what it would take for her to be able to stay in DC.

Brumby had gone back out to Norfolk to get some statements but the Admiral had wanted Meg to stick around the office so she hadn't accompanied him, something Meg wasn't all that sorry about.

Meg was exhausted and looking forward to the weekend, even if it did mean that she would be moving into her new apartment. She hated moving. And living with Harm for the past week had been very enjoyable, though there were more than a few awkward moments where she almost let her feelings slip. And, not only did she not want to ruin their friendship, but she also didn't know how he would respond to anything so major with the way things with Bud were looking.

Despite the fact that she had been brought back to deal with the Annapolis shooting things were so tight that Meg found herself catching cases, working cases she hadn't worked since she was fresh out of law school. She had been lucky when she was partnered with Harm because he managed to catch higher profile cases, which bolstered her resume as well, and she had moved from dereliction of duty cases to murder investigations within a few months, something almost unheard of because high profile cases were, as a rule, reserved for the senior attorneys on staff. Meg had been one of the first Lieutenant JG's to solo on a murder investigation, the case that had warranted her initial transfer out of JAG several years before. Now she was a Lieutenant Commander, promoted only a month earlier from Lieutenant, and she was working cases that most lawyers at her rank wouldn't touch because they felt they were 'below' them or something. Meg, however, didn't care about that. She wasn't wildly pleased by the fact that she was dealing with public urination cases and the like, but she wasn't about to become one of the people she hated so much for acting like the number of bars on your chest was what defined their worth. The one thing that was great about low profile cases was that no one really wanted to deal with them anyway, so plea bargaining was much easier. She managed to wrap up several cases through pleas and was pleased that she had at least made a dent in the stack of cases that had been handed to her that morning in staff call.

Meg was just about to start working on the next case in the stack on her desk when Mac came over with two cups of coffee. She handed one to Meg who took it eagerly, for she hadn't even bothered to stop for lunch and her morning coffee had long since worn off. "Thank you," Meg said.

"You looked like you were fading," Mac said sympathetically. "I didn't see you at lunch."

"Worked through," Meg admitted. "I haven't worked so many cases at once since I was a first year." She rubbed her eyes and once again seriously considered switching from contacts to glasses, at least for work. "How are things going at Quantico?" she asked Mac who had spent most of the day there with Reigner and Rowe who were working tirelessly to crack Marino.

"In a holding pattern," Mac said with a sigh. She pulled a chair over and sat down, clearly exhausted. "This guy… he obviously knows that there's nothing he's going to do that will get him out of the death penalty. Even if we can't pin the Annapolis shooting on him, his previous crimes will be enough to warrant a death sentence. But he's smart enough to know that nothing's going to happen to him until we find out about the Annapolis shooting…"

"I hate it when they refuse to get scared," Meg said sympathetically. A part of her wanted to ask about how things were going with Reigner but Meg didn't know Mac well enough to ask such a personal question, especially since it was selfishly motivated—Meg wanted to make sure that the woman who was conceivably her competition for Harm's affections was safely ensconced in the glow of a new relationship that had yet to reach the point where the other person reveals their true face and facets. So Meg held her tongue on the topic of William Reigner and asked another question instead. "Are you going to the hospital after work?"

Mac sighed. "Harriet has banned us all from coming tonight. She's enlisted Harm and me for baby AJ duty and she's going to spend the night with Bud by herself," she said. She looked down at her hands, her emotional turmoil obvious. "Today is the anniversary of the day they first met," Mac said softly.

The blonde's shoulder's sank a little in sympathy for Harriet, a woman she hardly knew but already considered a friend.

"Anyway, Harm wasn't sure if you would be okay all by yourself in his apartment—a comment for which his six deserved a thorough kicking for—so he sent me over to find out if you would mind if little AJ, Jingo, and I came over to the loft."

"Well, as insulted as I am that Harm doesn't think I can spend one night in his apartment without something happening, I'm not going to turn down the company," Meg said.

Mac nodded. "Okay. I wasn't sure… I thought maybe you and Harm had plans or something…" she said.

"Harm's helping me move into the apartment tomorrow afternoon, but other than that I'm pretty sure the plan was take out and childish party games."

"Party games?" Mac asked, deliberately misinterpreting what Meg was saying.

"Oh, please," Meg said, rolling her eyes when she realized what Mac was hinting at. "We play, like, Twenty Questions. It's not like we're playing naked Twister."

Harm came over carrying little AJ in a car seat. "Who is playing naked Twister?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at the women.

"No one," Meg said, praying that she had managed to keep the disappointment out of her voice. Harm didn't catch it, but Mac did, and she planned to push Meg on the subject later.

"Give me my godson," Mac said, putting her coffee down and reaching out for baby AJ who was dressed in his sailor suit. "We've gotta get you some Marine Greens, sweetheart. Your parents and godfather are filling your head with all kinds of nasty rumors that the Navy is better than then Corp."

Rolling his eyes, Harm set the carrier down on the floor. "Don't listen to her, AJ. You're gonna be a sailor, just like your dad and your mom and you Uncle Mike," Harm said, gently adjusting the child's cap. He had actually taken the 'cover' off when entering the building but he had quickly realized how foolish it was of him and he replaced the hat because he knew that Auntie Mac would have a fit if AJ wasn't fully attired in the sailor's uniform that she and Carolyn had searched high and low for before the baby's birth. "Come here, little man," Harm said, reaching out to take the boy back. Mac clutched him to her chest and turned her body away from Harm. "Mac, come on. The Admiral wants to see little AJ and me in two minutes and unless you want to be the one to run a diaper check before I go in there, you might want to hand him over."

"Fine, take him," Mac said dramatically as she eased AJ into Harm's waiting arms. She didn't mind diaper duty, but if someone else offered to take it for her she was more than eager to let them. "What does the Admiral want to see you about?" she asked.

"I think my presence was requested only because I'm the holder of the baby," Harm admitted before grabbing the diaper bag and headed off to make sure that little AJ wouldn't offend big AJ.

Mac sat back down and looked at Meg who had stayed silent through the exchange. "Okay, this is going to come out totally high school but how long have you had a crush on Harm?" Mac asked in an excited whisper.

Meg groaned and let her head drop to the desk.

* * *

**HARM'S APARTMENT**

**1720 (EST)**

**NORTH OF UNION STATION**

**FRIDAY, JULY 23**

Baby AJ was asleep in his basinet in the bedroom where he would, hopefully, not be as easily disrupted by the adults conversation. Jingo was laying down between the baby and the door to protect the innocent child from whatever might come through the heavy multi-layered steel door. Harm was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on dinner and Meg and Mac were sipping wine and soda respectively. Meg hadn't asked why Harm hadn't even offered Mac wine, and, while she was a little curious, she knew that asking would be beyond crass.

The three of them ate dinner, chatting comfortably. Mac and Meg got to know each other better, Harm got caught up on Meg's life since she had left DC, and Mac got to hear about the things Harm had done before she had arrived on the scene.

After the dinner was finished and the dishes were done, all three of them retired to the living room area where Mac quickly suggested that they play one of the 'party games' Meg had been talking about at the office.

"Twenty questions," Meg agreed with a smile.

"I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that. Mac, you know too much about me. Any questions you ask would be leading," Harm said.

"Got something you want to keep secret, Flyboy?" Mac teased.

"For the time being, yes," Harm said flat out. He saw no point in denying that he had a secret. Mac knew that he did, and he was pretty sure Meg suspected something. And if admitting that he had a secret could keep them from trying to find out what the secret was he was more than willing to fall on that particular sword.

Mac pouted. "You're no fun."

"Then we can play Would You Rather. Fewer personal details are let out in that one," Meg suggested, though she was wildly curious to find out whatever it was that Harm was hiding.

"I haven't played that since…" Mac trailed off. She bit her lip and stood up, leaving the room and going to stand over baby AJ. She needed his innocence to reassure her that not everything in the world was horrible.

Harm was behind Mac in an instant, his hand tentatively reaching out for her shoulder. "Mac?" he said softly. "Talk to me," he whispered plaintively.

"Sorry," Mac said, blinking back tears. "It's just that the last time I played was the night of my fifteenth birthday party. Dad was out with the other enlisted guys, and mom was… she told me she was going to dinner with some friends. I had a few friends and mom and dad let me have the house to myself for the evening because we'd done the family dinner thing the night before and having a party was their gift to me. There were five of us… and I remember that it wasn't until after ten, half an hour before I knew dad would be stumbling through the door, that I realized that both mom and Ruggles were gone."

"Ruggles?" Harm frowned. He'd never heard the full story of the night that Deanna MacKenzie had left her husband and daughter. It was obviously a painful subject for Mac, even after her father died and Mac had made peace with her childhood, and Harm, knowing what a difficult childhood meant, was sympathetic to Mac's emotions and personal space on the topic.

"This big white mutt that we had," Mac said, hastily wiping away the stray tears that had escaped. "I remember… after my friends were picked up… dad came home. He was sober, for once. I remember thinking that he'd done that for me, that he'd refrained from drinking for my birthday. He saw the dish full of food that I'd set out for Ruggles and he asked where the dog was. Dad never said anything, but I know he loved that dog, even if he was always getting underfoot." Mac smiled at the memories, some of the few happy ones she had. "We looked all over town that night, and when we got back to the house it was probably four in the morning. I was so sad… and dad came into my room after I'd gotten ready for bed. He had a note in his hands… from mom. Saying that she was leaving and that she hoped we would be alright together without her. I don't remember crying that hard ever before, and I think I've only done it three times since. Dad gathered me up in his arms and he comforted me as best he could. He promised that we were going to get through this, that we'd make it work. He said that he was going to stop drinking and that we were going to live a proper life, even if I didn't have a mom around. He stayed sober for about two weeks… then some of his buddies invited him out… I was spending the day with Uncle Matt, and I came home just in time to see dad throw up all over the begonias. It wasn't long after then that I started drinking and hooked up with Chris and Eddie."

Mac looked down at baby AJ and then looked up at Harm. "But the thing is… the night of my birthday party, while we were playing 'Would You Rather'… Cheryl McGuire asked me if I would rather live without the ability to walk or without my mother. I chose without the ability to walk. I didn't find out until almost a year later that Cheryl had gone into my parents room while she was looking for the bathroom and she'd found the note mom left for dad and me."

"Oh, Mac," Harm said softly, reaching out and brushing Mac's tears away tenderly.

"No, I'm okay," Mac said, pulling away. "I'm just… I think I'm gonna turn in for the night, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead. Take the bed. I'll take the floor," Harm said.

Mac looked at Harm for a minute, trying to decide if his motives were true. "What about your back?" she asked.

"It's been fine lately," Harm assured her. "Go get some sleep. Meg and I will try to keep it down."

"Thanks," Mac said, her voice less than a whisper. She hugged Harm tightly and sighed in relief. She had been holding that story in for so long. With everything that had happened to Harm's father, her take of maternal abandonment had seemed trivial and she felt like sharing that particular facet of her life with Harm would make her seem whiny. She never thought about how much better she would feel after talking to her best friend about one of the most painful things she had ever lived through.

Mac went into the bathroom to change and Harm headed back to the living room after tucking AJ's blankets around him a little tighter. "Is everything alright?" Meg asked, genuinely concerned for her new friend.

"She will be," Harm said. "She just… sometimes the past just catches up with you, ya know?"

Meg nodded. She had heard pretty much everything that had been said, and she knew Harm knew that, but they were all going to pretend that she hadn't heard a word. "If there's anything I can do," she said.

"I hate to admit it, but there's not much anyone can do," Harm said softly. He heard the shower turn on and he moved into the bedroom, gathering up the spare linins.

Within half an hour all three of them were in their respective beds. Mac was in Harm's bed, Meg was on the couch, and Harm was lying by the fire with Jingo who had left the protection of little AJ to Mac. "You know, you'd think with two beautiful women staying with me I'd have a better sleeping companion than you," Harm said to the dog as he pawed at Harm's sleeping bag, trying to make it into an appropriate bed.

* * *

_Mac's meltdown will make sense in time. And I'm sorry I didn't put any real Bud/Harriet moments in this chapter (or any) but I couldn't seem to put the emotions that I felt the scene required into my writing. I have issues with writing hospital scenes... I'm working on it, though._

_Review please!_


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_TITLE: Pall_

_DEFINITION: **PALL**_

_Pronunciation: 'pol  
Function: verb  
Etymology: Middle English, short for **appallen**, to become pale  
**1** to lose strength or effectiveness  
**2** to lose in interest or attraction his humor began to pall on us  
**3** to become tired of something  
**4** to cause to become insipid  
**5** to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating_

_  
Function: noun  
Etymology: Middle English, cloak, mantle, from Old English pæll, from Latin **pallium**  
**1** **(a)** square of linen usually stiffened with cardboard that is used to cover the chalice **(b) **a heavy cloth draped over a coffin; **(c) **a coffin especially when holding a body  
**2** something that covers or conceals; especially_

_**3** an overspreading element that produces an effect of gloom a pall of thick black smoke _

_(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary_

_RATING: PG-13 or R. R to be safe. Mostly for language to begin with, maybe for... other things... later on._

_SUMMERY: After an attack on a graduation ceremony at Annapolis the JAG office is thrown into a state of flux._

_SPOILERS/TIMELINE/ALTERATIONS I'VE MADE: A little AU. Please see previous chapters for more details._

_NOTE: This first section was supposed to be in the last chapter—was supposed to actually BE the last chapter, but I had enough going on and I wanted to devote a full chapter to the events below. Hopefully the following will make up for the delay in Harm/Meg shipperness._

_DEDICATION: To my readers. I'm writing this for you._

* * *

**MEG'S APARTMENT**

**1429 (EST)**

**ALEXANDRIA, DC**

**SATURDAY, JULY 24**

"I think that's the last of them," Harm said as he set down a slightly dusty box labelled KITCHEN on the tiled island. His back, which was temperamental at best after all his punch-outs and rough carrier landings—was killing him and he had promised to stick around and help Meg put together her furniture but all he wanted to do was plug in his trusty heating pad and lie down flat on his back for a good ten hours.

"Thanks," Meg said with a sweet smile. She noticed that Harm was hunched over and her smile faded. "Are you okay? You look like you're… I don't know what."

"I'm good," Harm said. "Just a little out of practice in the lifting and carrying department. I'm getting soft in my old age." Meg crossed her arms and stared him down with a look that was worse than Chegwidden's **_I'm gonna make sure you spend the rest of your life making rocks into smaller rocks_** and his mother's **_why did you take the car out even after I told you not to because you don't have your license and you'll wreck it which is what you did_** glares combined. "Okay, okay, stop glaring," Harm said. "I've had a few rough carrier landings and some punch-outs that didn't go so well since you left. My back is just making its displeasure known. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before and, unfortunately, nothing I won't deal with for the rest of my life."

"Oh, Harm, if you were having back problems you could have just told me, I could have hired movers or something," Meg said, moving to his side and leading him over to the couch. "Can I do anything? I'm sure I have some Aspirin around here somewhere… I hope it's still good…" she said, trying to find the box labelled BATHROOM.

"No, I'm fine, really," Harm said. Sitting down helped, if only minimally. "And I wanted to help you out, Meg. Now come, sit down," he said, reaching his hand out for her. Meg reluctantly took it and allowed him to pull her down beside him. "So, now that you've got all your stuff here, how does it feel to be back in DC?" he asked.

Meg looked around her apartment that was cluttered with boxes. "It feels good," she said at length. "A little insane, though."

Harm frowned, his forehead creasing adorably. "How so?"

"Just… when I left it was so… unceremonious. I mean, one second I'm on a case with you, and the next I'm on a plane heading off for a new assignment. I didn't even get the chance to clean out my office or pack my apartment up. I had to get movers to deal with my apartment and someone at JAG to send me my stuff from the office. I didn't get to say goodbye to any of the friends I had made while I was here. And, even though the SecNav promised me that I'd be back in DC eventually, he made it sound like I would be trying to decide if I want to go to Florida or back home to Texas for retirement by the time that happened. I've been moving so much since I left DC… it'll be nice to have an actual apartment to come home to. I've been living out of hotels and VOQ's since I left."

"Such is the life of those in the Navy," Harm reminded her.

"I know, I'm just glad to have a place that's, you know, actually mine," Meg said.

"I know what you mean. After living at home, then school, then on carriers, then up at Gran's farm after my ramp strike, getting my own place after I got my billet at JAG was liberating," Harm said.

"I still think it's wrong that you didn't live on your own until you were thirty," Meg said.

"I did leave home and go half way around the world when I was sixteen," Harm pointed out.

"Fine, you win that point," Meg conceded. "It's still wrong, though."

Harm smiled and shook his head. It was so easy being with Meg. They'd fallen back into their old patterns immediately, and he was loving every minute of it.

"Want a beer?" Meg asked, getting up and heading for the kitchen. She had made sure the fridge was stocked as soon as she got back to DC. She could sleep on the floor if she had to, but she needed a working fridge, and not the type Harm had used for over two years. Coleman was not a name brand that Meg associated with refrigerators.

"Um… sure," Harm said. He rarely drank anymore, something that had started out as a sort of solidarity thing after Mac's relapse when Dalton Lowne had died, and had evolved into him just lacking the desire to imbibe regardless of Mac's presence or lack thereof. A glass of wine with dinner or a beer with Bud while watching a game was the extent of Harm's contact with alcohol, and he was fairly comfortable with that.

Meg grabbed two bottles and kicked the fridge closed on her way back to the couch. She handed Harm one and watched him carefully while he twisted the top off.

It was barely noticeable, but Harm cringed when he exerted the slight amount of pressure needed to turn the top half a turn counter clockwise.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Meg said, taking away the bottle and putting both their beers down on the floor. "Take off your shirt and lie down," she ordered.

Harm shot her a seductive look and she rolled her eyes in hopes of keeping her insides from turning to jelly. It didn't work. "Your back is obviously killing you, and, since it's my fault you pissed it off, I'm gonna give you a massage. So take off your shirt and lay down," Meg said sternly.

She knew that she was courting danger—she hadn't seen him without a shirt for several years but she knew that he was still in excellent shape, possibly even better now than he had been when they were partnered up.

"Yes ma'am," Harm said, shooting off a semi-sarcastic salute before doing as he was told.

Once Harm was situated Meg found some vanilla scented lotion and poured a dollop onto his back, the cold substance jolting Harm slightly at first, though not as much as the feeling of Meg straddling his six. Meg rubbed the lotion into his skin thoroughly before beginning her massage. She worked all his tension out, leaving Harm a boneless heap on her slightly musty couch. "God, Meg, that feels good," Harm groaned

Harm's moans of approval were driving Meg crazy so she decided that actual conversation would help her refrain from jumping the man she was straddling and giving a thorough rub down to.

"So, Harm, who is Jordan?" Meg asked innocently.

"Girlfriend. Former," Harm said. "How'd you find out about her?"

"She called while you were loading my suitcases into the car," Meg said. "I, uh, don't think she was too happy to hear a female voice answering your phone."

Harm chuckled. "Probably not," he agreed. "What did she have to say?"

"She told me to let you know that she called," Meg said, "then she hung up. I think she was in a doctor's office, though. I heard someone being told that one of the doctors would see them now."

"She was probably at work," Harm said. "Jordan's a psychiatrist at Bethesda," he explained.

"You meet her in her office?" Meg teased.

"Mine, actually," Harm said. "It's a long story."

Meg focused her attention on a particularly stubborn knot in his lower back. "Why'd you break up?"

"She couldn't deal with the thought of me flying," Harm said. "I keep up my flight status with bi-annual quals and when the last set came around… she couldn't deal. She said she fell in love with a lawyer, not a jet jockey. She told me to call her when I'd given up my wings."

"But flying is part of who you are," Meg protested. She was hating Jordan more and more.

Harm sighed heavily. "She didn't see it that way. Not every woman out there is as understanding as you, Meg," he said. His back hadn't felt so good in years and he was thankful that he was lying face down on the couch because otherwise Meg would be all too aware of how her touch was affecting him. "I mean, even Mac has problems with me flying… not that she'd ever try to stop me or give me ultimatums…" he trailed off. "You never said anything about me flying, though. You never told me that I couldn't do it or that I was past my prime or anything. I really took you for granted."

"No, you didn't," Meg said, though she had thought that from time to time in the past few years.

"Yes, I did," Harm insisted, rolling over onto his back. He didn't want to have this conversation with his face pressed into her couch. "I took you for granted and I hate myself for it." He sat up and Meg slipped down until she landed in his lap.

Meg gasped aloud when she came in contact with his erection through their light layers of clothing. "Did… did I do that?" she asked weakly once she found her voice.

Harm couldn't find his voice, but he did manage to nod his head. Meg gasped again and then leaned in and crushed her lips against his, reaching up and tangling her fingers in his hair, holding his lips against hers. Harm returned her kiss with all the passion he had kept inside for so long, smiling against her lips when she moaned as he slid his tongue past her teeth and into her mouth.

It wasn't the romance-novel first kiss. It wasn't a shy brushing of the lips that could be explained away by friendship. It was deep and passionate and there was no mistaking that the intentions behind it were the same for both parties.

They both knew that they had a lot to talk about.

But talking would come later.


End file.
